Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the harm-benefit analysis process for retrospective assessments of PPLs required by the Animal (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 record deaths of animals; and whether that data is routinely published.

All project licence (PPLs) applications are subject to the harm–benefit analysis (HBA) process required under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986. This process is undertaken by the Home Office Animals in Science Regulation Unit to ensure that any harm that may be caused to the animals is justified by the expected benefits for humans, animals or the environment and evaluates whether a project licence application can be legally authorised.

The retrospective assessment process which applies to a subsection of project licences does not include a harm-benefit analysis.

A project licence retrospective assessment does not routinely record the deaths of animals.