Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Annual Statistics of Scientific Procedures on Living Animals, Great Britain 2022, published on 13 July 2023, for what reason the number of eye irritation tests in rabbits increased from 0 in 2021 to 3 in 2022; and whether she is taking steps to help reduce the number of such tests on rabbits in the future.

The Annual Statistics of Scientific Procedures on Living Animals in Great Britain do not include data on the reasons for changes in the number of procedures carried out year to year.

The Government is committed to the development of alternatives to using animals in scientific procedures and continues to actively support and fund the development and dissemination of the 3Rs (replacement, reduction and refinement) for the use of animals in scientific procedures. This is achieved through UK Research and Innovation’s funding of the National Centre for the 3Rs, which works nationally and internationally to drive the uptake of non-animal technologies, and through research into the development of alternatives by Innovate UK, the Medical Research Council, and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council.