§ Mr. JamiesonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many of his Department's inspectors monitor the use of research animals by personal licensees, project licence holders and designated establishments; and if he will make a statement on the effectiveness of the inspection system. [41041]
§ Mr. KirkhopeAll members of the animals (scientific procedures) inspectorate are involved in monitoring the use of animals in research. I am satisfied that the system is fully effective in delivering the objectives of the legislation.
§ Mr. JamiesonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many of(a) personal licensees, (b) project licence holders and (c) designated establishments in the United Kingdom are permitted to carry out research on animals. [41042]
§ Mr. KirkhopeAt 31 December 1994, there were 15,807 personal licensees, 4,013 project licence holders and 331 certificates of designation.
§ Mr. JamiesonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many procedures on animals were carried out for tobacco research in(a) 1993 and (b) 1994; and if he will give details of the experiments carried out for tobacco research; [41043]
(2) how many procedures on animals were carried out for alcohol research in (a) 1993 and (b) 1994; and if he will make a statement; [41044]
(3) if he will list the areas of research which were responsible for the increased use of primates between 1993 and 1994; [41046]
(4) if he will list the pharmaceutical products which use primates in their research; and what was the number of primates used in (a) 1993 and (b) 1994 for each product. [41086]
§ Mr. KirkhopeThe numbers of procedures on animals are listed in "Statistics of Scientific Procedures on Living Animals Great Britain" for 1993, Cm 2746, and 1994, Cm 3012.
Prior to 1 January, figures for the number of animal used in fundamental or applied research involving tobacco or its products were not separately recorded.
The number of procedures for alcohol research for 1993 was 7,328 and for 1994, 9,119.
The increase in the use if primates is attributable to increased demands for regulatory testing of medical and dental products.
Primates are used in many ares of medical research. Where regulatory testing is concerned, it is not always known, at the time of testing, the product for which individual ingredients may be used.
§ Mr. JamiesonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what were the reasons for the delays in566W publishing "Statistics of Scientific Procedures on Living Animals Great Britain" for (a) 1993 and (b) 1994. [41045]
§ Mr. KirkhopeI refer the hon. Member to the replies which the then Under-Secretary of State gave to the hon. Member for Truro (Mr. Taylor) on 18 January,Official Report, column 527, and the hon. Member for Glanford and Scunthorpe (Mr. Morley) on 27 January, Official Report, column 455. It was not practical to publish in July this year since the returns were not complete by that date. The annual Command Paper was last published in July in 1992, and for reasons explained in the earlier replies the annual publication is likely to appear in the autumn in future.