§ Mr. GrayTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department on what grounds the Home Office Project Licence to the Joint Universities Study on Deer Hunting was refused. [80821]
§ Mr. Bob AinsworthWe have been unable on available information to identify a Joint Universities project licence application of the type described. A similar application was, however, made in 1998 from another source. It was made under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986, and was for a project licence to conduct a study concerned with deer hunting
It is not policy to disclose details of individual applications, but I can tell the hon. Gentleman that the application was refused because it was not considered to meet the cost/benefit criteria set out in section 5(4) of the 1986 Act. In other words, the adverse effects on the animals to be used were deemed to outweigh the likely benefit to accrue from the specified programme of work.