Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, in the light of the Annual statistics of scientific procedures on living animals, Great Britain 2024, published on 23 October, what steps they are taking to end procedures which cause severe suffering to animals.

This Government is committed to the development of non-animal alternatives and will publish a strategy by the end of this year to support the development, validation and uptake of alternatives to animal testing. Where animal procedures are required to deliver benefits to people, animals or the environment because there is no non-animal alternative, these are subject to strict, robust regulation.

All applications to test on animals must conform with all legal requirements set out in the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986. This includes applying the principles of the 3Rs (Replacement, Reduction and Refinement): the replacement of animals with alternatives; the reduction of the number of animals used to the minimum possible; and the refinement of any techniques to reduce the harm suffered by the animals to the minimum. The Home Office only allows the use of animals if it can be demonstrated that the 3Rs have been fully applied. All licence holders have a responsibility to fully implement the 3Rs and demonstrate this requirement at audit.

Licence holders are also required to complete retrospective assessments for licences if the protocols in the studies are severe. Retrospective assessments must consider whether any lessons can be learned from the programme of work which may contribute to the further implementation of the principles of the 3Rs.