Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the government of Saudi Arabia on freedom of religion for religious minorities, converts, and members of unrecognised religious communities.

Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington

The UK strongly supports the right to freedom of religion or belief (FoRB). Our views on FoRB are well known to Saudi Arabia and the UK will continue to encourage further progress.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to combat people smuggling gangs using the Republic of Ireland as a route to gain entry to the United Kingdom for illegal migrants.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

As part of the Common Travel Area (CTA) arrangements, the UK does not operate routine immigration controls on journeys from Ireland to the UK, with no immigration checks being undertaken on the Ireland-Northern Ireland land border.

The UK does however carry out intelligence-led operations to target potential abuse of CTA routes, including between Ireland and Northern Ireland but away from the land border. This is to detect those who intend to abuse CTA arrangements. Operational activity is intelligence led and focussed on abuse of the CTA by criminals.

There is a high level of cooperation between multiple law enforcement agencies, including Border Force, Immigration Enforcement, NCA and Police forces to achieve this. We regularly monitor and review any identified trends and we work closely with our colleagues in Ireland in taking action to address this.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many illegal migrants who have gained entry to the UK via the Republic of Ireland have been returned to the Republic of Ireland in the last five years.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

As part of the Common Travel Area (CTA) arrangements, the UK does not operate routine immigration controls on journeys from Ireland to the UK, with no immigration checks being undertaken on the Ireland-Northern Ireland land border.

The UK does however carry out intelligence-led operations to target potential abuse of CTA routes, including between Ireland and Northern Ireland but away from the land border. This is to detect those who intend to abuse CTA arrangements. Operational activity is intelligence led and focussed on abuse of the CTA by criminals.

There is a high level of cooperation between multiple law enforcement agencies, including Border Force, Immigration Enforcement, NCA and Police forces to achieve this. We regularly monitor and review any identified trends and we work closely with our colleagues in Ireland in taking action to address this.

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Vallance of Balham on 2 June (HL245), what assessment they have made of the role of legislation in driving scientific innovation to facilitate the replacement of animal experimentation.

Answered by Lord Vallance of Balham

The Government has assessed that legislation provides an important baseline by requiring animals to be used in science only where no validated alternatives exist. Our immediate priority for driving innovation is therefore not further legislation, but accelerating the development, validation and regulatory uptake of alternative methods through the Replacing Animals in Science strategy, backed by investment, regulatory reform and delivery oversight. We will keep the legislative framework under review, but progress must remain science-led and aligned with evidence, regulators and partners.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, with regard to project 4 in the non-technical summaries of project licences granted January-March 2026 that require a retrospective assessment under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986, what assessment they have made of the scientific validity of implanting devices into the skulls of non-human primates while they play video games.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

This project, among other research, sits within the Government’s broader strategy to support research that advances the understanding of major public health challenges. The expected scientific benefits of this work include improving understanding of how brain cells, together with brain chemicals, support key mental processes including learning, memory, planning and decision-making. In the longer term, this evidence base is expected to aid the development of therapies for neurological and neuropsychiatric conditions, such as depression, addiction and dementia.

All project licence applications under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 (ASPA) are assessed by medically or veterinary qualified inspectors within the Animals in Science Regulation Unit (ASRU). Under ASPA, no project can be granted without a harm-benefit analysis, where an ASRU inspector makes a rigorous assessment of the scientific rationale for the programme of work, and must assess that the harms of the proposed project are justified by the likely benefits. Inspectors assess the appropriateness of the scientific methods being proposed for achieving the stated benefits and must be confident that these benefits are likely to be realised.

The project must also demonstrate full application of the legal requirements of replacement, reduction and refinement (the 3Rs). This means that animal use cannot be approved if a practicable nonanimal alternative method exists, the number of any animals used must be minimised, and the most refined methods must be used for animal testing to minimise harms.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, with regard to project 4 in the non-technical summaries of project licences granted January-March 2026 that require a retrospective assessment under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986, what assessment they have made of the ethical implications of withholding food and fluid from non-human primates to induce them to perform behavioural tasks.

Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)

This project, among other research, sits within the Government’s broader strategy to support research that advances the understanding of major public health challenges. The expected scientific benefits of this work include improving understanding of how brain cells, together with brain chemicals, support key mental processes including learning, memory, planning and decision-making. In the longer term, this evidence base is expected to aid the development of therapies for neurological and neuropsychiatric conditions, such as depression, addiction and dementia.

All project licence applications under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 (ASPA) are assessed by medically or veterinary qualified inspectors within the Animals in Science Regulation Unit (ASRU). Under ASPA, no project can be granted without a harm-benefit analysis, where an ASRU inspector makes a rigorous assessment of the scientific rationale for the programme of work, and must assess that the harms of the proposed project are justified by the likely benefits. Inspectors assess the appropriateness of the scientific methods being proposed for achieving the stated benefits and must be confident that these benefits are likely to be realised.

The project must also demonstrate full application of the legal requirements of replacement, reduction and refinement (the 3Rs). This means that animal use cannot be approved if a practicable nonanimal alternative method exists, the number of any animals used must be minimised, and the most refined methods must be used for animal testing to minimise harms.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many people were recruited into the National Institute for Health and Care Research supported phase 3 trials for (1) dementia, (2) cancer, (3) stroke, and (4) coronary heart disease, in 2025–26.

Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The UK Clinical Research Delivery key performance indicators (UKCRD KPI) report monitors the United Kingdom’s delivery of globally competitive clinical research.

The following table shows the number of participants recruited for phase 3 trials for dementia, cancer, stroke, and coronary heart disease:

This data is an unpublished subset of statistics published under indicator 6 of the UKCRD KPI report, which measures the number of participants recruited to clinical studies. The information is taken from studies recorded on the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Research Delivery Network’s (RDN) Central Portfolio Management System.

Studies are included where they recruited during the period between 1 April 2025 and 31 March 2026. The data was processed and assured by the NIHR RDN data and analytics and specialty teams using the same established checks applied to the data provided to the Department for publication in the UKCRD KPI report.