Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Annual statistics of scientific procedures on living animals, Great Britain 2025, published in July 2026, what assessment she has made of the use of 11,213 mice in procedures reported under the LD50 and LC50 test.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
All procedures using protected animals, including the LD50 and LC50 tests, are subject to strict regulation under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 (ASPA). No project licence can be granted unless a Home Office inspector has completed a harm-benefit analysis and concluded that the likely benefits justify the harms to the animals.
As part of that assessment, inspectors consider the scientific rationale, whether the proposed method is appropriate to achieve the stated benefits, and whether suitable non-animal alternatives are available. The use of animals is authorised only where those tests are judged necessary, justified and proportionate.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to support fire services across the East of England to tackle wildfires.
Answered by Florence Eshalomi - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Fire and rescue services have been responding to an exceptionally challenging period of wildfire activity, with multiple significant incidents being managed simultaneously across England and Wales.
Measures have already been utilised to assist with the response to emergencies such as the ban on the disposable BBQs introduced on 14 August as well as use of the emergency alert system across the East of England and other parts of the UK. These are options that will assist emergency services going forward.
This year, we have made available almost £1.95 billion in core spending power to standalone fire and rescue authorities in England (excluding York & North Yorkshire and Greater Manchester) through the Local Government Finance Settlement. It is for each fire and rescue authority to decide how best to use that funding, including for wildfire training, preparation and prevention, based on local risk.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, how much funding was provided to the National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs) each year between 2020-2025; and what proportion of that funding was spent on activities intended to replace the use of animals in scientific procedures (as opposed to activities focused on refinement or reduction).
Answered by Chris McDonald - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The NC3Rs receives funding from a number of sources. Its core funding is provided by the Medical Research Council (MRC) and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) which are part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).
Core funding for financial years:
2020/21: £9.35M
2021/22: £9.45M
2022/23: £10.20M
2023/24: £10.00M
2024/25: £10.10M
2025/26: £7.93M
Replacement of the use of animals is included in all NC3Rs programmes with the exception of its animal welfare projects. Between 2020/21 and 2024/25, more than 80% of grants awarded by the NC3Rs have been to replace the use of animals.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of prolonged periods of dry weather on the risk of surface water flooding when heavy rainfall occurs; and what steps she is taking to help prepare for that risk.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra keeps flood risks under continual review. The dry conditions of recent months have meant the ground is hard and compacted across the country, increasing the risk of localised surface water flooding in all areas following heavy rain or thunderstorms.
The Government is supporting improved surface water flood forecasting and risk mapping. The daily Flood Guidance Statement, produced by the Environment Agency and Met Office, provides regular assessments of the risk of surface water flooding. This helps lead local flood authorities, who manage local flood risks from surface water.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will provide the total number and the total value of successful claims by Network Rail to claim back from hauliers costs incurred by bridge strikes.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Network Rail's bridge strike data does not record whether an incident was caused by a haulier, bus operator or other heavy goods vehicle. Since the start of Control Period 7 (1 April 2024), Network Rail has recovered £16.28 million in costs arising from bridge strikes. During this period, Network Rail has pursued 3,162 recovery claims, of which 822 resulted in a financial recovery.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate she has made of the size of the UK coach fleet.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
There is no official estimate of the current coach fleet size. The Confederation of Passenger Transport published a report in 2020 which estimated that the UK coach fleet comprised around 27,500 vehicles.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the adequacy of the availability of replacement batteries for defibrillators.
Answered by James Frith - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has arrangements in place to help ensure the continuity of the supply of medical products, such as replacement batteries for defibrillators, including the National Supply Disruption Response service, which – in the event of a supply issue – can work with the medical supply industry, the health and care system, and our system partners to help minimise any impact on the provision of care.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, what estimate his Department has made of the total amount of public funding allocated to the development, validation and uptake of human-specific research methods each year between 2020-2025.
Answered by Chris McDonald - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) invests in a range of human-specific research that does not rely on animal studies. Many studies developing and using human-specific and alternative methods are classified as basic research, so any funding values given would be an underestimate. Examples include the Medical Research Council’s Experimental Medicine programme, a £15 million UKRI, NC3Rs and Wellcome funding call for novel human in vitro models of complex disease, and an £18 million Experimental Medicine funding call on neurodegeneration. Between 2020 and 2025, UKRI also invested approximately £10 million annually in the National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the report Sustainable Alternatives to Culled Chicks as Captive Raptor and Reptile Feed published by the Vegetarian Society UK on 4 June 2026.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This Government will consider the Vegetarian Society UK’s report on alternative feed sources for raptors and reptiles as part of its work to work towards seeing an end the practice of culling male laying hen chicks.
Asked by: Alex Mayer (Labour - Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, with reference to the Annual statistics of scientific procedures on living animals, Great Britain 2025, published in July 2026, what steps he is taking to replace the use of cats in science with human-specific technologies.
Answered by Chris McDonald - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Government is committed to reducing and replacing the use of specially protected species, including cats, in scientific research through the Replacing Animals in Science strategy. The strategy supports the development, validation and regulatory uptake of human-specific technologies, including advanced cell-based models, organ-on-a-chip systems, data-driven approaches and AI-enabled tools. The use of specially protected species remains subject to stringent controls and is permitted only where no validated alternative exists.