Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, pursuant to the Answer of 14 October 2024 to Question 6247 on Animal Experiments: Cats, what funding is being provided to support human-specific research into relevant conditions.

UKRI (UK Research and Innovation) fund a variety of approaches to research on conditions affecting humans. One third of MRC (Medical Research Council) and BBSRC’s (Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council) research grants involve the use of animals licensed under ASPA (Animals Scientific Procedures Act) in some part of the research project. There are no active grants using cats.

Although animal use is still considered important for many research areas, UKRI funds multiple approaches to the replacement of animals in research, including through core funding to the NC3Rs (National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research).