Life Sciences: Animal Experiments

(asked on 24th May 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether the Government's policy to increase funding for the life sciences sector will incentivise the (a) development and (b) uptake of non-animal research methods.


Answered by
Amanda Solloway Portrait
Amanda Solloway
Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
This question was answered on 27th May 2021

Overall Government spending on R&D in 2021/22 is £14.9 billion, its highest level in four decades. UK scientists will have access to more public funding than ever before and our investments confirm the Government’s commitment to cementing the UK's status as a science superpower. The overall UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) budget for 2021/22 will be £7.9 billion, this represents a significant increase on UKRI’s £7.3 billion budget in 2019/20. Our investment across multiple disciplines will be guided by expert researchers.

UKRI work with a variety of stakeholders across the community in the development and uptake of non-animal research methods. Cross-sector collaboration has been at the heart of the success of the work of the National Centre for the 3Rs (NC3Rs) which is funded by UKRI, and their CRACK IT Challenges programme. NC3Rs partners with the third sector to offer collaborative awards with the British Heart Foundation and Cancer Research UK to speed progress in uptake of the 3Rs (replacing, reducing and refining the use of animals in research) in heart disease and cancer research.

Reticulating Splines