Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help reduce animal testing.

The Government supports advances in biomedical science to reduce the use of animals in research, including stem cell research, cell culture, imaging and computer modelling techniques. UK Research & Innovation funds the development of techniques that replace, reduce and refine the use of animals in research (the 3Rs) through the National Centre for 3Rs (NC3Rs). UK law requires that animals are only used in science where there are no alternatives, where the number of animals used is the minimum needed to achieve the scientific benefit, and where the potential harm is limited to that needed to achieve the scientific benefit.