Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to accelerate the uptake of non-animal New Approach Methodologies in (a) regulatory testing and (b) scientific research.

National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) funding is focused on translational, clinical, and applied health and care research. We therefore do not fund basic research or work involving animals, animal tissue, or both. However, the NIHR does work in close partnership with the Medical Research Council, which funds animal research in carefully defined circumstances and recognises the need for the robust application of the 3Rs, the replacement, reduction, and refinement of animal use in research.

The Government will publish a strategy to support the development, validation, and uptake of alternative methods in basic, applied, translational, and regulatory research and testing later this year.