Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department grants permission to laboratories to cut the vocal cords of dogs in order to reduce noise.

The Home Office would not authorise the cutting of vocal cords of dogs under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986. We cannot envisage any scenario where that would be acceptable unless it were for the health and well-being of the individual animal with the procedure conducted under Veterinary Surgeons Act.