Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to project 5 titled Neuronal Basis of Somatosensorial and Pathological Pain listed in the non-technical summaries for project licences granted between January and March 2026 requiring retrospective assessment, published in June 2026, whether she plans to end the approval of licences for experiments that involve causing pain to animals.

This project, among other research, sits within the Government’s broader strategy to support research that advances understanding of significant public health challenges, including chronic pain. The expected scientific benefits of this work include improving understanding of how nerve cells in the spinal cord contribute to the perception of touch and pain. In the longer term, this evidence base is expected to support the development of new, more specific targets for interventions to alleviate a variety of pain conditions.

All project licence applications under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 (ASPA) are assessed by medically or veterinary qualified inspectors within the Animals in Science Regulation Unit (ASRU). Under ASPA, no project can be granted without a harm-benefit analysis, where an ASRU inspector makes a rigorous assessment of the scientific rationale for the programme of work, and must assess that the harms of the proposed project are justified by the likely benefits. Inspectors assess the appropriateness of the scientific methods being proposed for achieving the stated benefits and must be confident that these benefits are likely to be realised. The project must also demonstrate full application of the legal requirements of replacement, reduction and refinement (the 3Rs). This means that animal use cannot be approved if a practicable nonanimal alternative method exists, the number of any animals used must be minimised, and the most refined methods must be used for animal testing to minimise harms.

The Government has a long-term vision for a world where the use of animals in science is eliminated in all but exceptional circumstances. The Government’s published strategy, Replacing animals in science, is backed by £75 million in funding, and contains commitments to accelerate the development and regulatory acceptance of non-animal alternatives, including the creation of a UK Centre for the Validation of Alternative Methods (UKCVAM).