§ 34. Mr. LYNCHasked whether the Home Secretary can state the number of establishments in this country licensed for vivisection purposes or for research work involving experiments on living animals; how many persons are now in possession of licences and certificates authorising them to perform such experinients; how many dogs were employed for this purpose during 1912; what proportion this bears to the total number of animals so employed; and when the annual Return of vivisection experiments will be published?
§ Mr. McKENNAThe total number of registered places in Great Britain is 109. The number of persons holding licences is 568. Most of the holders of licences also hold one or more certificates. The total number of experiments performed during 1912 was 83,559. I cannot give the exact number of experiments on dogs–888 experiments were performed under the certificates which allow experiments on, dogs or cats, but the returns do not show how many were on either kind of animal. In addition to these, some of the 2,584 experiments performed under licence only, without certificate, may have been experiments on dogs. The annual Return is almost ready for publication, and will, I hope, be issued shortly.