§ Mr. HancockTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what recent research his Department has(a) commissioned and (b) evaluated on the efficacy of animal experiments; [163903]
§ Caroline FlintThe Home Office has not commissioned or evaluated any formal research on the efficacy of animal experiments. Animal experiments must be judged to be potentially efficacious in order to be licensed under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986, which requires that animals may only be used in scientific procedures where such use is fully justified, where the likely benefits outweigh the costs to the animals involved, and where the procedures are most likely to produce satisfactory results. Also, under the conditions attached to their certificates of designation under the 1986 Act, all places that undertake animal experiments are obliged to have an ethical review process, one of the functions of which is to review the efficacy and conduct of the work undertaken under licence at the establishment. In addition, research councils and charities fund many research projects carried out under the 1986 Act and the work done is reported to and evaluated by them. Other work is funded by pharmaceutical companies and is subject to internal scrutiny within those companies. The safety and efficacy testing needed before people are exposed to new drugs is evaluated by the relevant regulators.