§ Mr. Simon HughesTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make it his policy to require a reduction of 10 per cent. per annum in the number of animal procedures carried out in the United Kingdom.
§ Mrs. RumboldProvided that the requirements of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 are fulfilled, my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary will continue to4W grant project licences authorising particular programmes of work under section 5. The controls of the Act have themselves given continued impetus to the consistent decline in the use of living animals in scientific procedures which has taken place for a number of years. Overall reductions in the numbers of animals used depend heavily on scientific advances in the development of acceptable alternatives.
§ Mr. Simon HughesTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will now develop a strategy for the promotion, development and use of non-animal research methods with a view to reducing the number of animal procedures.
§ Mrs. RumboldMuch work is already being carried out by commercial companies, academic bodies and charitable concerns to find acceptable alternatives to the use of living animals in research. The Home Office has been funding research in this area since 1984 and established its own research scheme with the passing of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986. This scheme is administered by the Animal Procedures Committee which advises my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary on the priorities for research and assists in the selection and evaluation of proposals. Details of projects which have been funded by the Home Office may be found in the reply I gave to a question from the hon. Member for Caerphilly (Mr. Davies) on 28 November at columns416–17.