Irene Campbell

I was pleased to announce alongside energy suppliers a package of support that will ensure the most vulnerable are protected this winter.

This £500m industry package, containing debt relief alongside other measures, and taken with the Warm Home Discount, brings total support to £1bn for this winter will mean the most vulnerable are protected from rising bills.

The Government is committed to supporting non-animal alternatives and will publish a strategy to support their development, validation and adoption later this year. Any systematic approach for identifying research priorities for new alternative methods will be outlined in the upcoming strategy. Implementation of these ambitions is to be determined in consultation with the life sciences community.

The Labour Manifesto includes a commitment to “partner with scientists, industry, and civil society as we work towards the phasing out of animal testing”. The Government will publish a strategy to support the development, validation and uptake of alternative methods in basic, applied, translational and regulatory research and testing later this year. As part of this, we continually monitor international developments and bodies such as ECVAM and are in discussion with our overseas colleagues as to how we can work together on this matter.

There are a range of internationally accepted guidelines which ensure the safety assessment of new chemicals and medicines before they are licenced for use. OECD Guidelines for the Testing of Chemicals assess the potential effects of chemicals on human health and the environment, and similarly ICH guidelines assure the complete and thorough assessment of the potential quality, safety and efficacy of pharmaceuticals. Guidelines are reviewed periodically by regulators and industry stakeholders as the science supporting the guidelines evolves. This will include how and when non-animal alternatives are acceptable and can be included to meet the aims of these guidelines.

I refer the Hon. Member to the reply previously given to the hon. Member for Liverpool West Derby, Ian Byrne, on 16 May 2025, PQ 50228.

In 2024, a total of 32391 dogs and 6226 cats were imported commercially under the Balai directive.

The attached two tables show all commercial imports of dogs and cats by country of origin and month of import.

The EU data may include animals that have originated from a non-EU country but have travelled through an EU Border Control Post (BCP). The database records the EU BCP Country as the Country of Origin for these imports.

The Rest of the World data does not include animals that have arrived through an EU BCP.

This information is drawn from external systems not directly controlled by the department and is a true reflection of the information that APHA has access to.

In 2024, a total of 335451 dogs and 32804 cats were imported non-commercially through the PETS Directive. The table below shows the number of dogs and cats imported each month in 2024:

The data provided is a summary of animals entering Great Britain under the Pet Travel Scheme via an approved route.

It does not include pet animals that enter other parts of the UK (such as Northern Ireland or the Channel Islands) or pet animals that enter Great Britain from other parts of the UK. It does not include any animals that enter Great Britain under the Pet Travel Scheme from the Republic of Ireland as these movements do not need to follow an approved route.

Data on the Pet Travel Scheme covers pets entering Great Britain and is based on information provided by pet checkers employed by approved carriers of pet animals and cannot be separated into EU and Rest of the World. This data can be subject to change due to when the carriers provide the data.

We are forming a partnership between government and stakeholders from across the food system as we develop the food strategy. This partnership includes academics, charities, key thinkers, civil society organisations and consumer groups as well as industry representatives.

Health experts and civil society are represented in the membership of the Food Strategy Advisory Board announced in March, including Professor Chris Whitty as Chief Medical Officer for England at the Department for Health and Social Care, Professor Susan Jebb as Professor of Diet and Population Health at Oxford University, Anna Taylor of the Food Foundation and Ravi Gurumurthy of NESTA.

We will conduct a series of of targeted stakeholder engagements that will include civil society organisations, environmental non-Government organisations, and citizen groups alongside the farming and the food industry

We are forming a partnership between government and stakeholders from across the food system as we develop the food strategy. This partnership includes academics, charities, key thinkers, civil society organisations and consumer groups as well as industry representatives.

Health experts and civil society are represented in the membership of the Food Strategy Advisory Board announced in March, including Professor Chris Whitty as Chief Medical Officer for England at the Department for Health and Social Care, Professor Susan Jebb as Professor of Diet and Population Health at Oxford University, Anna Taylor of the Food Foundation and Ravi Gurumurthy of NESTA.

We will conduct a series of of targeted stakeholder engagements that will include civil society organisations, environmental non-Government organisations, and citizen groups alongside the farming and the food industry

Statistics on the number of Children living in absolute and relative poverty per constituency are published annually in the “Children in low income families: local area statistics” publication and can be found in tabs “5_Relative_ParlC” and “6_Absolute_ParlC”. These are only produced on a before housing cost basis. A link to these statistics can be found here: Children in low-income families: local area statistics 2014 to 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

Tackling child poverty is at the heart of this Government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and improve the life chances of every child.

The Child Poverty Taskforce has started work and will explore all available levers to drive forward short and long-term actions across government to reduce child poverty. The Child Poverty Strategy will be published in the Spring and is UK-wide.

In September, the Taskforce heard from local leaders about the challenges faced in their communities, and how it can best work with Mayors, local authorities and other bodies to develop innovative solutions to tackle child poverty. This marked the first of a series of thematic sessions with key organisations, charities and experts on specific topics that will help to shape the strategy.

The vital work of the Taskforce comes alongside our commitments to roll out free breakfast clubs at all primary schools, create 3,000 additional nurseries, as well as deliver our plan to make work pay to turn the minimum wage into a real living wage.

The UK remains committed to tackling gender-based violence, including conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) in Sudan. On 23-25 January, the Foreign Secretary visited the Sudan-Chad border to raise awareness of the conflict in Sudan and its impact on neighbouring countries, speaking directly to Sudanese refugees, including survivors, who shared harrowing stories of sexual violence and torture. The UK has galvanised international efforts on this issue, including through the UN Human Rights Council, Security Council and International Alliance on Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative. On 13 March, the Minister for Africa chaired a UN Security Council (UNSC) Briefing on CRSV in Sudan, highlighting the worsening trends and emphasising the need for an immediate cessation of hostilities. This event followed his Sudan Roundtable with the Fact-Finding Mission on Sudan in Geneva on 25 February for permanent representatives which aimed to raise awareness of the critical human rights situation. The UK also co-led a Resolution at the UNSC with Sierra Leone on the protection of civilians which called on parties to take urgent steps to prevent CRSV and to improve protection and access to services. Despite unanimous support from the Council, the Resolution failed to pass due to a Russian veto.

The Pensions Investment Review, which I am leading, aims to drive the scale and consolidation of Defined Contribution pension schemes and the Local Government Pension Scheme. Our reforms could unlock £80 billion of productive investment into new infrastructure and businesses of all sizes.

The Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 (ASPA) ensures that all animal testing, including for regulatory purposes, is only carried out where no non-animal alternative can be used. Licence applicants are required to robustly evidence their consideration of why alternative methods cannot be used. The Home Office Regulator reviews all licence applications and will only issue a licence once it is satisfied there are no practicable alternative methods available. Therefore, if a non-animal alternative is available for the scientific outcome sought then the Home Office will not authorise that testing to take place.

The Annual statistics of scientific procedures on living animals, Great Britain 2023 provides details on the purposes of procedures using horses in scientific research.

The published statistics show that no horses were used for the routine production of antibodies. The majority of horses are used for the taking of blood that is subsequently used in blood-based products as a supplement in cell culture media.

Local authorities in England must ensure that support is available in safe accommodation for domestic abuse victims who need it. My Department has allocated £160 million for 2025-26, a £30 million uplift from the previous year. That funding is for local authorities to commission lifesaving support for victims in safe accommodation.