Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps her Department is taking to help support scientists to transition to animal-free, human-specific technologies through (a) practical support, (b) the provision of training and (c) other means.

The Government, via UK Research & Innovation, funds the development of techniques that replace, reduce and refine the use of animals in research through the National Centre for 3Rs (NC3Rs). The NC3Rs encourages researchers’ to use non-animal methods (NAMs) in a number of ways, including supporting the skills base by funding PhD students to work only on the development of NAMs, and dedicated funding allowing researchers to test methods alongside existing animal studies. NC3Rs recently launched a network to bring researchers from academia, industry and regulatory authorities together to share knowledge on the use of NAMs methods for safety testing.