Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether he plans to continue the previous Government’s work on accelerating the (a) development, (b) validation and (c) update of (i) technologies and (ii) methods to reduce reliance on the use of animals in science.

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.

We take seriously the importance of this work and recognise that any work to phase out animal testing must be science-led and in lock step with partners. We are currently engaging with partners as to how we will take this commitment forward.