Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of launching a review of animal testing in the UK.

The Government is committed to supporting the uptake and development of alternative methods to the use of animals in science.

The Labour Manifesto includes a commitment to “partner with scientists, industry, and civil society as we work towards the phasing out of animal testing”, which is a long-term goal, and will likely take many years of scientific and technical advancement and validation to reach this point. The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) is leading on the delivery of this commitment.

Our current approach is to support and fund the development and dissemination of techniques that replace, reduce and refine the use of animals in research (the 3Rs), and to ensure that the UK has a robust regulatory system for licensing animal studies and enforcing legal standards.

In line with the Government’s Manifesto commitment, DSIT is currently engaging with partners from sectors with interests in animal science and on a cross-Government level as to how we will take this commitment forward, including the publishing of a strategy to support the development, validation and uptake of alternative methods. The Government expects to publish this strategy later this year.