Asked by: Patrick Grady (Scottish National Party - Glasgow North)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps the Government is taking to steps to accelerate the transition from animal research to human relevant science.
Answered by George Freeman
UK Research and Innovation is committed to ensuring that the UK remains at the forefront of global efforts to reduce, refine or replace the use of animals in research, and provides core funding to the National Centre for 3Rs of £49.1 million over 5 years.
The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council has just launched £4 million of funding targeted at developing the next generation of non-animal technology and driving the uptake of existing non-animal technology.
The Medical Research Council launched the new Experimental Medicine Panel in 2020, which has an annual budget of £10 million, and is dedicated to investigating diseases directly in humans using non-invasive techniques.
Asked by: Kenny MacAskill (Alba Party - East Lothian)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the oral contribution of the Minister for Science, Research and Innovation of 25 October 2021, Official Report, column 46WH, whether it remains her policy that animals are not used in the batch potency testing of (a) botulinum toxin as a registered medicine and (b) botulinum toxin for any other use as a result of the availability of a validated non-animal alternative.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
To protect human safety there are legal requirements to test the safety and potency of medicinal products and drug substances containing botulinum toxin.
This Government confirms that where validated non- animal alternatives acceptable to the relevant regulator are available to meet these legal requirements, then animal testing in the UK is not authorised.
Asked by: Kenny MacAskill (Alba Party - East Lothian)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the oral statement of the Minister for Science, Research and Innovation in Westminster Hall of 25 October 2021, Official Report, column 46WH, how many animal tests have taken place for the purposes of regulating medicinal botulinum in Britain in each of the last three years for which statistics are available.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Home Office can confirm that in 2018, 92,164 animal tests took place for the purposes of regulating medicinal botulinum in Britain. In 2019, 69,396 tests were carried out, and in 2020, 65,888 tests were carried out. To protect human safety there are legal requirements to test the safety and potency of medicinal products and drug substances containing botulinum toxin. This Government confirms that where validated non-animal alternatives acceptable to the relevant regulator are available to meet these legal requirements, then animal testing in the UK is not authorised. |
Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the effectiveness of the political priority given by the Government to accelerating the replacement of animal research with human relevant techniques.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The UK’s rigorous regulatory system ensures that no animal testing or research takes place if there is a non-animal alternative that would achieve the scientific outcomes sought.
The National Centre for the 3Rs (NC3Rs) is the UKs leading scientific based organisation dedicated to replacing, refining and reducing the use of animals in scientific research and testing. The NC3Rs supports the research community use the latest science and technology to replace animal studies, providing new approaches for biomedical research and avoiding the time and cost associated with animal models.
Asked by: Alex Davies-Jones (Labour - Pontypridd)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of including education on the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) in the school curriculum, to (a) help tackle stigma and misconceptions, (b) improve knowledge of cervical screening and cervical cancer, and (c) ensure informed consent for the HPV vaccine.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Pupils need to know how to be safe and healthy, and how to manage their academic, personal, and social lives in a positive way. That is why we have made health education compulsory in all state-funded schools in England alongside making relationships education for primary pupils and relationships and sex education for secondary pupils compulsory, collectively known as relationships, sex and health education (RSHE).
As part of the statutory curriculum at secondary school, pupils will be taught how the different sexually transmitted infections are transmitted, how risk can be reduced, and the importance of and facts about testing.
The Department has also published implementation guidance and teacher training modules covering all the RSHE topics to help schools develop their curricula and teach the subjects confidently and effectively: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/teaching-about-relationships-sex-and-health. The module covering intimate and sexual relationships, including sexual health, states specifically that pupils should be taught about the NHS human papillomavirus vaccine scheme and the protection it offers and links schools to the relevant content on the NHS website.
More generally, at primary school, pupils will be taught about the facts and science relating to immunisation and vaccination. This knowledge is developed at secondary level to include the prevention of infection, including the facts and science related to antibiotics, the immune system, how vaccines work and the need for booster jabs.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference the commitment in the Queen's Speech 2021 to the UK having and promoting high standards of animal welfare, what steps she is taking to improve the protection of animals used in scientific research and to accelerate their replacement with animal free, human relevant methods.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
This Government has published a code of practice for the care and accommodation of animals used for scientific purposes. The code provides details of appropriate standards to support animal welfare in science. Published guidance is available on the operation of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act to assist establishments meet the legislative requirements in the application of the 3Rs (Replacement, Reduction and Refinement).
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether it is the Health and Safety Executive's policy not to initiate a restriction on a substance on which an opinion has been adopted by the European Chemicals Agency.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
An annual UK REACH Work Programme will be developed and published; this will include activity on new restrictions. Working with the Environment Agency, Defra and relevant officials from the Scottish and Welsh governments, HSE will identify priorities for restriction. These may include restrictions already addressed by the European Chemicals Agency. The preparation of restriction dossiers by HSE will address concerns deemed to be the most pressing for Great Britain, and any further measures taken to safeguard human health and the environment will be based on the best available evidence and robust science.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent steps his Department has taken to increase the level of human relevant life sciences in the UK.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
Since 2017, the Government has invested approximately £1 billion through two Life Sciences Sector Deals, helping to generate significant levels of industry investment in the UK.
At Budget this year, my Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer announced the Life Sciences Investment Programme (LSIP), a new dedicated investment programme of up to £600 million of joint Government and industry investment. The LSIP aims to unlock the potential of the UK’s best health and life science innovations, allowing companies to grow in the UK.
This reflects the Government’s manifesto commitment to make the UK the leading global hub for life sciences.
Asked by: Baroness Boycott (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of whether the education system adequately reflects the challenges presented by climate change in terms of (1) the curriculum, (2) teacher training, and (3) the energy efficiency of educational facilities.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
It is vital that young people are taught about climate change. For this reason, related topics are included throughout both the science and geography curricula and GCSEs. In primary science and geography, pupils are given a firm foundation for the further study of the environment in secondary school. For example, in primary science pupils are taught about how environments can change as a result of human actions. They will learn about animals’ habitats, including that changes to the environment may pose dangers to living things.
In secondary science, pupils are taught about the production of carbon dioxide by human activity and the effect this has on the climate. This is expanded on in GCSE science where pupils will consider the evidence for additional anthropogenic causes of climate change. As part of GCSE geography pupils will look at the causes, consequences of and responses to extreme weather conditions and natural weather hazards. In 2017, we also introduced a new environmental science A level. This will enable students to study topics that will support their understanding of climate change and how it can be tackled.
School and teachers can go beyond the topics set out in the national curriculum, or do more in-depth teaching of these topic areas, if they so wish.
We are supporting recruitment and retention of teachers in these subjects to ensure that schools have the expertise to teach topics relating to climate change effectively. In science, trainee teachers are offered bursaries of £26,000 and scholarships of £28,000 to attract top science graduates into teaching. New physics and chemistry teachers will soon be offered early-career payments of up to £9,000 during their first four years of teaching. We also fund Subject Knowledge Enhancement (SKE) courses for geography and the sciences. These are courses designed to help applicants gain the depth of subject knowledge needed to train to teach their chosen subject.
The new Initial Teacher Training (ITT) Core Content Framework, published 1 November 2019, sets out a core minimum entitlement for all trainees of what should be covered during their teacher training, irrespective of subject or phase. The government does not prescribe the curriculum of ITT or SKE courses and it remains for individual providers to design curricula appropriate for the subject, phase and age range that the trainees will be teaching. Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) will continue to be awarded at the end of ITT against the Teachers’ Standards, which includes secure knowledge of relevant subjects and curriculum areas.
We also support energy efficiency in educational facilities through our capital funding and programmes, both to reduce the carbon footprint and save schools money on energy. We have allocated almost £9 billion in condition funding since 2015 to maintain and improve school buildings. Condition funding can be invested in projects which improve energy efficiency. In addition, interest free loans for energy efficiency projects have been made available through the government backed Salix finance scheme.
Asked by: Geraint Davies (Independent - Swansea West)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
Whether he has made an assessment of the implications for his policies of the report of the all-party group on air pollution entitled, Air Quality Strategy to Reduce Coronavirus Infection and its reference to Queen Mary University's research on the biological link between air pollution and coronavirus.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Long-term air pollution exposure is the leading environmental risk to human health. We are working with relevant experts to understand the relationship between air quality and increased risks from COVID-19 based on emerging science. This will be supported by the National Institute for Health Research and UK Research and Innovation joint open call for projects on mitigating the health, social, economic, cultural and environmental impacts of COVID-19.
We note that there is emerging evidence suggesting an association between COVID-19 mortality and exposure to air pollution, but many of the emerging papers are, as yet, generally not peer-reviewed and are of variable quality. Currently, there is no clear evidence to suggest that air pollution has a direct link to the spread or severity of COVID-19 in the United Kingdom.? In April, the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs initiated work to conduct detailed statistical analysis of the United Kingdom data, delivered in collaboration with the Department for Health and Social Care, Public Health England and the Office for National Statistics, and with input from the relevant Air Quality Expert Group and Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollution experts. The work will be published in due course. The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs continues to have extensive discussions with the Department for Health and Social Care and other departments on the relationship between air quality and health.