Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of providing funding to support Helpathon initiatives consisting of collaborative workshops to support biomedical researchers identify animal-free research methods.

The Government actively supports and funds the development and dissemination of techniques that replace, reduce, and refine the use of animals in research (the 3Rs).  This is achieved primarily through funding from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) for the National Centre for the 3Rs (NC3Rs), which works nationally and internationally to drive the uptake of 3Rs technologies and ensure that advances in the 3Rs are reflected in policy, practice, and regulations on animal research. Since the NC3Rs was launched in 2004, it has committed £100 million in research to develop 3Rs technologies and its scientific staff have led research projects, in collaboration with academic and industry partners, that have been used to inform changes in policy and regulations on the use of animals in research.