Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, whether he has had discussions with the Government of (a) Germany and (b) France on the refusal of entry to their country of Dr Ghassan Abu Sittah, Rector of Glasgow University; and if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies of such refusals.

Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)

I have not made representations on this matter to either the French or German Authorities.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to his Department's consultation entitled Fur market in Great Britain, published in May 2021, what recent discussions he has had with his counterparts in the devolved Administrations on the publication of the results of that consultation.

Answered by Mark Spencer

Defra has regular discussions with the Devolved Administrations about a range of animal welfare topics. This includes our work to build the evidence base on the fur sector.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to end the use of LD50 testing on animals.

Answered by Mark Spencer

The UK supports work to develop New Approach Methodologies which can provide information on chemical hazards and risk assessment without the use of animals.

The Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) is the UK regulatory authority for veterinary medicines. The VMD assesses applications submitted by the veterinary pharmaceutical industry in line with national and international regulations and guidance to ensure safe and effective veterinary medicines of good quality are marketed. These requirements may therefore necessitate animal testing either to develop and register new veterinary medicines or for routine product quality control, to ensure the continued quality, safety and efficacy batch to batch. Non-animal tests are not always available. The VMD is committed to phasing out the use of animals for testing purposes where possible, in accordance with the principles of 3Rs (Replacement, Reduction, Refinement). Furthermore, the UK is a signatory to the European Pharmacopoeia (which sets minimum quality standards of medicines) and the European Convention for the Protection of Vertebrate Animals used for Experimental and Other Scientific Purposes. This commitment to the 3Rs is also enshrined in the UK’s Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 under which scientific procedures in animals are regulated.

For veterinary medicines significant progress in non-animal testing has been made in recent years, including the possibility of replacing animals by in vitro suitable cell cultures in LD50-type testing methods, and the relevant regulatory quality standards and testing requirements have been revised accordingly for these specific medicines. Many Marketing Authorisation Holders for these specific medicines have already, and more recently, introduced these changes to their authorised medicines, which will reduce the number of animals used. Implementation of new tests for existing products can be a complicated process, requiring extensive validation and it is not always possible to replace all of the existing animal tests with in vitro non-animal replacements for each existing authorised product. The relevant UK Competent Authority for regulation of these medicines will continue to monitor the use of animals in these tests and to recommend use of non-animal tests where possible.

The Minister of State for Science, Research and Innovation (the hon. Member for Arundel and South Downs, Andrew Griffith) recently announced that the Government will publish a plan to accelerate the development, validation and uptake of technologies and methods to reduce reliance on the use of animals in science, which will be published in the summer. He also requested that we double our investment in research to achieve these approaches next year to £20 million across the system in 2024/25.

LD50 testing is not required for preclinical development of novel medicines. Quality control testing of some authorised medicines relies on LD50 testing to ensure each batch meets expected quality standards. UK regulators follow the principles of the 3Rs. Significant progress has been made on validating alternative methods which do not use animals, including the possibility of replacing mice by in vitro suitable cell cultures in LD50-type testing methods, and the relevant regulatory quality standards and testing requirements have been revised accordingly for these specific medicines.

100 years of D’Jaconelli’s Café

Return of Tally’s Blood to the stage

Gibson's Engineering St Rollox Train Depot in Springburn

The West Highland Way

Skin cancer awareness month

165th anniversary of Jewish Care Scotland

900th anniversary of the High School of Glasgow

Rossvale FC Women

Marr College success at Scottish Power's Schools Warrior Rugby Championship

250th anniversary of Irvine Old Parish Church

Essentials guarantee and minimum income guarantee

Golden Jubilee of St Filan’s Primary School

Lanark United, West of Scotland Football League Third Division champions

100th anniversary of Busby Lawn Tennis Club

Hamilton Academical and the Scottish Championship

Ross Cowie, Point of Light Award

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Found: in the Macmillan Room [INF 12 ] Members present: Dean Russell MP (Chair) Simon Baynes MP Patrick

Found: Committee Room 8 [INF 13 ] Members present: Dean Russell (Chair) Simon Baynes Sarah Champion Patrick

Found: 4.30pm in the Macmillan Room [INF0 1] Members present: Simon Baynes (Chair) Sarah Champion Patrick

Found: in Room 5 [INF 03] Members present: Dean Russell (Chair) Simon Baynes Rehman Chishti Patrick

Found: at 5.00pm in Committee Room 6 [INF07] Members present: Dean Russell (Chair) Simon Baynes Patrick

Found: meeting with some Members and attendees joining remotely Members present: Dean Russell (Chair) Patrick

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Found: 4.30pm in Committee Room 6 [INF 09] Members present: Dean Russell (Chair) Simon Baynes Patrick

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Found: All correspondence, including internal correspondence about Patrick Grady, between the Scottish Government