§ Norman BakerTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how much he has spent on researching alternatives to animal testing in each of the last 20 years; [122654]
(2) how much he has spent on animal test research in each of the last 20 years. [122655]
§ Caroline FlintSince the financial year 1988–89, the Home Office has made a budget available to the Animal Procedures Committee (APC) for the development and promotion of alternatives which replace animal use, reduce the number of animals used, or refine the procedures involved to minimise suffering. Work aimed at improving the environmental conditions in which laboratory animals are kept and transported has also been sponsored. Details of completed research are published in the annual reports of the Animal Procedures Committee, which are available from The Stationery Office and, for recent years, on the Committee's website. The budget provided to the APC and, where available, the actual expenditure, in each year since 1988–89 was as follows.
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Animal Procedures Committee budget £ Financial year Budget allocated Actual spend 1988–89 60,000 70,000 1989–90 120,000 n/a 1990–91 122,000 n/a 1991–92 215,000 n/a 1992–93 253,000 n/a 1993–94 308,000 n/a 1994–95 273,000 n/a 1995–96 253,000 n/a 1996–97 242,000 242,000 1997–98 182,000 181,621 1998–99 259,000 257,141 1999–2000 259,000 275,000 2000–01 265,000 170,203 2001–02 280,000 173,906 2002–03 280,000 272,104 The Home Office has no regulatory requirement for animal test data and does not incur expenditure on such research. Nor do Home Office records show any expenditure on any one-off research projects requiring such data.