§ Mr. Andrew HargreavesTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he has received the annual report of the Animal Procedures Committee for 1989; and when he intends to lay copies of the report before Parliament.
§ Mr. WaddingtonI have laid before Parliament copies of the third annual report of the Animal Procedures Committee which will be published today by Her Majesty's Stationery Office as HC581.
I welcome this report, which reveals the care which the committee has taken in tackling a number of difficult issues. The control of scientific procedures on living animals is always a matter of great sensitivity and it is reassuring to see that we have a statutory but independent body which safeguards the balance between the welfare of animals and the pursuit of scientific work of real value.
I am grateful to the members of the committee for the time and skill which they devote to these matters.