HC Deb 16 January 1998 vol 304 cc346-7W
Mr. Flynn

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the procedures which have been carried out on monkeys and great apes, and the number involved in these procedures which have died as a result, at (i) Porton Down and (ii) other establishments for which he is responsible, in each of the last 10 years. [22573]

Mr. Spellar

This is a matter for the Chief Executive of the Defence Evaluation Research Agency (DERA). I have asked the Chief Executive to write to my hon. Friend.

Letter from John Chisholm to Mr. Paul Flynn, dated 16 January 1998: I have been asked to reply to your question concerning the procedures that have been carried out on monkeys and great apes over the last ten years at Porton Down and other establishments. No work on great apes has been undertaken at DERA during the last ten years, either at Porton Down or elsewhere. The number of procedures carried out on other non-human primates for 1987 to 1996 is shown in the table below. All figures relate to procedures carried out at Porton Down, except in 1993 when 12 procedures were carried out at the Royal Air Force Institute of Aviation Medicine at Farnborough. It should be noted that the Home Office reporting requirements changed in 1990, and so the number of procedures does not necessarily equate to the number of animals used. All animals were killed humanely at the end of projects in accordance with the relevant Home Office licence

Number of procedures conducted on non-human primates by year
Year Number of procedures
1987 117
1988 164
1989 64
1990 80
1991 31
1992 72
1993 48
1994 17
1995 17
1996 14
The number, but not a description, of the procedures is reported annually by species and by primary purpose in the annual returns to the Home Office. The procedures are defined on the project licences, and so a list of the actual procedures carried out could only be obtained by reference to the individual project licences and then not on an annual basis. Further, some of the titles of the procedures relate to classified research programmes and, in the interests of security, could not be disclosed. Nevertheless, many details of DERA's research on non-human primates are available in publications in the open literature. I hope this is helpful.