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Departmental Publication (Services)
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Apr. 24 2024

Source Page: Template commercial document for imports of animal by-products to Great Britain
Document: (PDF)

Found: Identification of the commodities Species (Scientific name) Nature of commodity Category Treatment


Select Committee
Deputy Chief Constable Maggie Blyth, Metropolitan Police Service, Metropolitan Police Service, British Transport Police, Home Office, Home Office, and Ministry of Justice

Oral Evidence Apr. 24 2024

Inquiry: Non-contact sexual offences
Inquiry Status: Closed
Committee: Home Affairs Committee (Department: Home Office)

Found: It is overseen by the Met’s chief scientific officer and supposedly utilises, “Data analytics to identify


Westminster Hall
Brain Injuries in Football - Wed 24 Apr 2024
Department for Business and Trade

Mentions:
1: Damian Collins (Con - Folkestone and Hythe) public domain of great loss and sympathy for the families concerned; it is now a matter of increasing scientific - Speech Link
2: Ian Blackford (SNP - Ross, Skye and Lochaber) What we really need, given this understanding, based on the scientific evidence, is to have this type - Speech Link
3: Stuart Andrew (Con - Pudsey) provides specific support for that benefit and the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council is the independent scientific - Speech Link


General Committees
Draft Sea Fisheries (International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2024 - Wed 24 Apr 2024
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Mentions:
1: Rebecca Pow (Con - Taunton Deane) Without the legislation, the UK would be able to run only commercial and scientific bluefin tuna fisheries - Speech Link


Grand Committee
Data Protection and Digital Information Bill
Committee stage - Wed 24 Apr 2024
Department for Science, Innovation & Technology

Mentions:
1: Lord Clement-Jones (LD - Life peer) There must be no trade-off between scientific collaboration and data privacy; that is what this amendment - Speech Link


Scottish Parliament Debate - Main Chamber
Portfolio Question Time - Wed 24 Apr 2024

Mentions:
1: Robertson, Angus (SNP - Edinburgh Central) That is affirmed in the designation of Dundee as the first and only United Nations Educational, Scientific - Speech Link


Scottish Parliament Debate - Committee
Subordinate Legislation - Wed 24 Apr 2024

Mentions:
1: None I am not aware of any beneficial scientific impacts being generated by the data that has been requested - Speech Link
2: None The point about the scientific benefits is interesting. - Speech Link
3: None You can go back to scrutinise it for different policy or scientific objectives—for example, if you want - Speech Link
4: None We have some real concerns about the ability of the marine directorate to deliver its current scientific - Speech Link
5: Grant, Rhoda (Lab - Highlands and Islands) How is the information going to be used for scientific research and to provide more sustainability in - Speech Link


Written Question
Animal Experiments
Wednesday 24th April 2024

Asked by: Dean Russell (Conservative - Watford)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department is taking steps to help encourage companies to transition away from testing products on animals.

Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Animal testing of chemical substances is permitted under UK REACH only as a measure of last resort; this principle is reinforced by the Environment Act 2021. Moreover, UK REACH states that test methods should be regularly reviewed with a view to reducing animal testing and it encourages the use of alternative methods. Testing and assessment of final products is not a part of UK REACH.

The Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) is the UK regulatory authority for veterinary medicinal products. The VMD assesses applications submitted by the veterinary pharmaceutical industry in line with national and international regulations and guidance to ensure safe and effective veterinary medicines of good quality are marketed. These requirements may therefore necessitate animal testing either to develop and register new veterinary medicines or for routine product quality control, to ensure the continued quality, safety and efficacy batch to batch. Non-animal tests are not always available and the VMD is committed to phasing out the use of animals for testing purposes where possible, in accordance with the principles of 3Rs (Replacement, Reduction, Refinement). Furthermore, the UK is a signatory to the European Pharmacopoeia (which sets minimum quality standards of medicines) and the European Convention for the Protection of Vertebrate Animals used for Experimental and Other Scientific Purposes and this commitment to the 3Rs is also enshrined in the UK’s Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 under which scientific procedures in animals are regulated.

The Minister of State for Science, Research and Innovation (the hon. Member for Arundel and South Downs, Andrew Griffith) recently announced that the Government will publish a plan to accelerate the development, validation and uptake of technologies and methods to reduce reliance on the use of animals in science, which will be published in the summer. He also requested that we double our investment in research to achieve these approaches next year to £20 million across the system in 2024/25.


Written Question
Animal Experiments
Wednesday 24th April 2024

Asked by: Ian Byrne (Labour - Liverpool, West Derby)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will take steps to end the lethal dose 50% process for testing of substances on groups of animals; and if he will have discussions with the Secretary of State for the Home Department about increasing funding for non-animal methodologies in substance testing.

Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The UK supports work to develop New Approach Methodologies which can provide information on chemical hazards and risk assessment without the use of animals.

The Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) is the UK regulatory authority for veterinary medicines. The VMD assesses applications submitted by the veterinary pharmaceutical industry in line with national and international regulations and guidance to ensure safe and effective veterinary medicines of good quality are marketed. These requirements may therefore necessitate animal testing either to develop and register new veterinary medicines or for routine product quality control, to ensure the continued quality, safety and efficacy batch to batch. Non-animal tests are not always available. The VMD is committed to phasing out the use of animals for testing purposes where possible, in accordance with the principles of 3Rs (Replacement, Reduction, Refinement). Furthermore, the UK is a signatory to the European Pharmacopoeia (which sets minimum quality standards of medicines) and the European Convention for the Protection of Vertebrate Animals used for Experimental and Other Scientific Purposes. This commitment to the 3Rs is also enshrined in the UK’s Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 under which scientific procedures in animals are regulated.

The Minister of State for Science, Research and Innovation (the hon. Member for Arundel and South Downs, Andrew Griffith) recently announced that the Government will publish a plan to accelerate the development, validation and uptake of technologies and methods to reduce reliance on the use of animals in science, which will be published in the summer. He also requested that we double our investment in research to achieve these approaches next year to £20 million across the system in 2024/25.

LD50 testing is not required for preclinical development of novel medicines. Some authorised medicines in the UK include (LD50) quality control tests which require the use of animals, conducted to ensure the quality, safety and efficacy of specific medicines. UK regulators follow the principles of the 3Rs. Significant progress has been made on validating alternative methods which do not use animals, including the possibility of replacing mice by in vitro suitable cell cultures in LD50-type testing methods, and the relevant regulatory quality standards and testing requirements have been revised accordingly for these specific medicines.


Parliamentary Research
Food, diet, nutrition and cancer - POST-PN-0718
Apr. 23 2024

Found: relating to diet and nutrition.20 UK dietary recommendations are based on independent advice from the Scientific