Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with reference to the publication entitled Annual statistics of scientific procedures on living animals, Great Britain 2023, published on 11 September 2024, what steps he plans to take to (a) increase funding for the further development and uptake of human-specific methods that can replace the use of animals in medical research and testing and (b) support scientists to transition to these approaches.

The Government has committed to partnering with scientists, industry, and civil society as we work towards the requirements for phasing out of animal testing and we are currently engaging with the sector as to how to take this commitment forward.

The Government invests £10m annually in the National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs) to accelerate the development and adoption of non-animal approaches. The NC3Rs receives additional funding from the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) for specific programmes and substantial in-kind support from companies for their CRACK IT innovation programme.