§ Mr. Bodyasked the Minister of Supply how many persons employed at the Chemical Defence Experimental Estab-
186Wtogether with the percentage requested by the hon. Member. As explained in my Answer to the hon. Member for Motherwell (Mr. Lawson) on 13th April, I regard the percentage figures as liable to be misleading and do not make a practice of publishing them.
lishment are licensed under the Cruelty to Animals Act to perform experiments upon living vertebrate animals; how many hold certificates A and B; and how many experiments were performed under the provisions of certificates A and B at the establishment in the last available 12 months' period.
§ Mr. Aubrey JonesTwenty-seven workers at the Government's Chemical Defence Experimental Establishment at Porton are licensed under the Cruelty to Animals Act, 1876, to perform experiments on living vertebrate animals. All 27 of these workers hold Certificate A and 11 of them also hold Certificate B. The number of experiments under these certificates at the Chemical Defence Experimental Establishment in 1958 was less than 1 per cent. of the total for the country as a whole.