§ Mr. BakerTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many animal (scientific procedures) inspectors appointed under section 18 of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 are in post; how many of them are former licence-holders under the Act; how many establishments under sections 6 and 7 they cover; and how many regulated procedures were carried out for the last year for which figures are available. [117802]
§ Mr. Mike O'BrienAnimals (Scientific Procedures) Inspectors are full-time civil servants. No inspector holds a licence. None has involvement in animal research. None has conflicts of interest linking him to places or persons regulated under the Act or his programmes of work. Twenty-one Inspectors are currently in post, 17 of whom have been previously licensed under the 1986 Act.
Annexe B of the Statistics of Scientific Procedures on Living Animals Great Britain 1998 confirms that of the 286 certificates of designation active on 31 December 1998, 284 were registered as user establishments, 170 as breeding establishments and 75 as supplying establishments. There is a disparity in these figures because a single establishment may hold its certificate of designation in more than one category. The Animals (Scientific Procedures) Inspectorate monitors all of these establishments.
Table 1 of the Statistics of Scientific Procedures on Living Animals Great Britain 1998 shows that 2,659,662 scientific procedures were carried out on animals during that year.
Figures for 1999 are currently being compiled and will be published in July.