Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will end the issuing of licences for experiments involving (a) dogs, (b) cats and (c) non-human primates under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986.

This Government is committed to the development of non-animal alternatives and will publish a strategy later this year. However, in limited circumstances where there is no non-animal alternative, procedures are required to deliver benefits to people, animals or the environment. In the most recent available statistics from 2023, less than 1 percent of all procedures were carried out on dogs, cats and non-human primates.

The Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 (ASPA) provides a robust and rigorous regulatory framework that protects animals used in science. It requires that the principles of the 3Rs - replacement, reduction and refinement - are followed so that animals are only used where there are no alternatives, the minimum number of animals are used, and the most refined procedures for using animals are employed to minimise harm.