Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to phase out (a) animal testing and (b) testing on beagles at (i) MBR Acres and (ii) other facilities.

Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Home Office)

This Government has made a commitment to the long-term goal of phasing out animal testing in science and research. An immediate ban is not presently feasible due to international regulatory requirements for the safety testing of chemicals and medicines. Such tests may include dogs as an appropriate model. The number of Beagles bred is largely determined by the forecast needs of the pharmaceutical industry for safe and effective medicines.

The Home Office assures that, in every research proposal, animals are replaced with non-animal alternatives wherever possible, the number of animals are reduced to the minimum necessary to achieve the result sought, and that, for those animals which must be used, procedures are refined as much as possible to minimise their suffering.

The National Centre for the 3Rs have a project to create a Virtual second species to assess potential toxicity before commencing clinical trials. This is a cutting-edge initiative to develop computational models that simulate dog biology, aiming to ultimately replace the use of dogs in drug safety testing. It brings together pharmaceutical companies and researchers to create more ethical, accurate, and efficient alternatives.

The Department for Science, Innovation & Technology (DSIT) is engaging with stakeholders to finalise a strategy to accelerate the development, validation and uptake of alternatives to animal testing which is scheduled for publication later this year.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what discussions he has had with (a) the Nepalese Government and (b) Gurkha veteran representatives on bringing pensions for Gurkha soldiers who retired before 1997 in line with the standard British Army pension.

Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)

The UK Government greatly values the Gurkhas’ long and distinguished history of service in our Armed Forces and remains committed to supporting the welfare of Gurkha Veterans and their families in both the UK and Nepal.

In March 2025, I met with the Nepali Ambassador H.E. Chandra Ghimire for a productive discussion that reflected our shared commitment to strengthening cooperation and addressing key concerns between Nepal and the UK. Additionally, in June 2025, Ministry of Defence officials met with representatives of the Nepali Government and Gurkha Veterans as part of the Bilateral Gurkha Veteran Welfare Committee’s Working Group, which continues to serve as a platform for constructive dialogue and collaboration.

The 1948 Gurkha Pension Scheme is different to other Armed Forces Pension Schemes, but these differences are objectively and reasonably justified. The legal basis for the Scheme has been upheld by three Judicial Reviews since 2003, including the European Court of Human Rights in 2017.

Found: Stone Michelle Welsh Juliet Campbell Natalie Fleet Mr Clive Betts Jodie Gosling Mike Martin Sojan Joseph

Found: Letter dated 30/06/2025 from Baroness Taylor of Stevenage to Sojan Joseph MP regarding an application