Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps his Department is taking to support the (a) development and (b) deployment of artificial intelligence to accelerate the transition away from the use of animals in scientific research and testing.

The Labour Manifesto commits to “partner with scientists, industry, and civil society as we work towards the phasing out of animal testing”. While it is not yet possible to replace all animal use, we support the development and application of approaches that replace, reduce and refine animal use in research (the 3Rs), including via artificial intelligence. The Prime Minister launched the AI Opportunities Action Plan in January which outlined 50 actions needed to drive up the development and deployment of AI.

The Government will publish a strategy to support the development, validation and uptake of alternative methods later this year.