Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will take steps to end severe suffering as a research category for all research animals after the UK leaves the EU.

There are no plans to remove the category “severe” for procedures authorised under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986, as amended in 2012 (ASPA). The regulatory system ensures that animal research and testing is carried out under controls which keep suffering to the minimum. Following EU exit, the principles of the 3Rs (Replacement, Reduction and Refinement) will be fully retained in ASPA.