Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, what discussions he has had with international partners on establishing common regulatory standards for non-animal methods in medicines development.

The Government is engaging with international regulators and partners to support the global acceptance of validated non-animal methods for medicines development. Through the Replacing Animals in Science strategy, we are strengthening regulatory confidence and supporting UK leadership in the development and adoption of alternative methods. The UK also works through the OECD Working Group of National Co-ordinators of the Test Guidelines Programme, which directs, reviews and adopts internationally harmonised non-animal methods. We continue to explore further bilateral and multilateral engagement to support internationally recognised approaches to non-animal methods.