Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the reasons for which there were no reports of pyrogenicity testing in animals in (a) 2019 and (b) 2020.

No such assessment of trends has been made. In most cases, pyrogenicity tests can be carried out using a combination of non-animal alternatives.

The requirements for regulatory testing are set by regulatory bodies across Government. The Home Department regulates the use of animals in science through administration and enforcement of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 (ASPA) which describes that the evaluation of a programme of work is favourable if it is required by law.

The Home Office assures that, in every research proposal: animals are replaced with non-animal alternatives wherever possible; the number of animals are reduced to the minimum necessary to achieve the result sought; and that, for those animals which must be used, procedures are refined as much as possible to minimise their suffering.