Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the potential impact of existing legacy licences for testing exclusive-use cosmetics ingredients on animals on animal welfare.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
The Government is engaging with the relevant companies to urgently determine a way forward on legacy licences.
All establishments licensed to breed or supply animals, or to carry out regulated procedures on animals under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 in Great Britain are subject to the full requirements of the Act. This provides for a regulatory regimen of activities that protects animals in science including audits and inspections by the Animals in Science Regulation Unit to ensure compliance with the terms of their licences, the Code of Practice and with the Act.
Both announced and unannounced site visits are undertaken within a risk-based framework to assure compliance and inspect the welfare, health, and environment of animals at each establishment.
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many licenses for animal testing of cosmetic ingredients have been issued since 2019 as a result of the European Chemicals Agency ruling; and to whom those licenses were issued.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
Animal testing of cosmetics for consumer safety has been banned in the UK since 1998 and this remains in force.
On 17 May 2023 the Government announced it is going further by banning, with immediate effect, licences to test ingredients exclusively used in the production of cosmetics for the purposes of worker safety.
The Home Secretary has issued a Written Ministerial Statement, which can be found here: https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2023-05-17/hcws779.
Since 2019, the Animals in Science Regulation Unit has granted seven project licences, or amendments to licences, that specifically authorise the testing on animals of chemicals for use as ingredients in cosmetics under the REACH regulations.
The Home Office does not publish details of licensed establishments.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will take steps to increase the transparency of licensing applications for the performing of scientific procedures on living animals.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
The Government publishes extensive information about the use of animals in science in Great Britain, including: guidance on the operation of ASPA (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/guidance-on-the-operation-of-the-animals-scientific-procedures-act-1986); and national annual statistics on the use of animals in scientific procedures (https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/animals-in-science-statistics).
For each project licence granted under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act (ASPA) 1986 a Non-Technical Summary is published, available here: www.gov.uk/government/collections/animals-in-science-regulation-unit#non-technical-summaries.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 1 December 2022 to Question 97679 on Animals in Science Regulation Unit, if she will commission an independent review of the potential benefits of increasing the fees payable for licences under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 to generate additional income to increase inspector numbers and reduce cases of non-compliance.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office has no plans to commission an independent review.
The Regulator regularly assesses its requirement for fee income for the delivery of protections to animals in compliance with the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986.
The Regulator’s capacity and capability for service delivery and compliance assurance purposes is aligned with the requirements defined in the legislation.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of increasing the fees payable for licences under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 to generate additional income for employing inspectors within the Animals in Science Regulation Unit.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Animals in Science Regulation Unit regularly assesses its requirement for fee income for the delivery of protections to animals in compliance with the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 (ASPA).
Asked by: Lisa Cameron (Conservative - East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her Department's Animals in Science Regulation Unit Annual reports 2019 to 2021, published 26 October 2022, what assessment she has made of the incident in which four dogs were administered a substance that was not authorised for testing; and whether a letter of reprimand and inspector advice was an adequate response to that breach.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
The Home Office take any allegations regarding non-compliance with the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 very seriously.
The investigation and measures taken for the case involving four dogs were in accordance with the agreed Regulator’s Compliance Policy that is aimed to minimise the risk of recurrence. The Compliance Policy can be found on gov.uk. The Home Office will continue to assess the proportionality of responses to non-compliances with the Act.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Animals in Science Regulation Unit annual reports 2019 to 2021, published on 26 October 2022, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of (a) investigating that report's findings on animal welfare in laboratories and (b) taking steps to support scientists in the development of new approach methodologies to help reduce animal testing.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
The Regulator has strengthened its regulatory oversight and published its process establishment audits at: www.gov.uk/guidance/animal-research-technical-advice#process-and-standards-for-establishment-full-system-audits. The audit process includes an animal welfare assessment.
Government policy is to actively support and fund the development and dissemination of techniques that Replace, Reduce and Refine the use of animals in research (the 3Rs). This is achieved through funding UK Research and Investment who fund the National Centre for the 3Rs and fund further research through Innovate UK, the Medical Research Council and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council into the development of alternatives.
The Regulator has a responsibility to assess all project licence applications for the full application of the principles of the 3Rs and all licence holders have a standard condition in their licences that requires them to deliver the 3Rs. In addition, all establishments have an Animal Welfare and Ethical Review body that has a responsibility to advise the Establishment Licence Holder and Project Licence Holders on the 3Rs.
Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Labour - Denton and Reddish)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Animals in Science Regulation Unit annual reports 2019 to 2021, published on 26 October, what steps her Department is taking to reduce the incidence of non-compliance with the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 in laboratories.
Answered by Tom Tugendhat - Minister of State (Home Office) (Security)
Establishments conducting research are regularly inspected, with both announced and unannounced inspections carried out by inspectors to ensure compliance with their licences and the legislation.
The regulator’s compliance policy explains how it identifies and investigates potential incidents of non-compliance and decides on appropriate and proportionate measures aimed to minimise the risk of recurrence. It is available at: www.gov.uk/guidance/animal-testing-and-research-compliance-with-aspa.
Asked by: Christian Wakeford (Labour - Bury South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Animals in Science Regulation Unit Annual reports 2019 to 2021, published on 26 October 2022, for what reasons incidents of non-compliance with the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986, for which the remedy was not solely inspector advice, increased between 2018 and 2021.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The 2018 Animal in Science Regulation Unit (ASRU) annual report explains that several non-compliance cases were detected in 2018, but investigations were not completed until 2019. Available at (p26): www.gov.uk/government/publications/animals-in-science-regulation-unit-annual-report-2018. These completed investigations were then reported in the 2019 ASRU annual report.
The Animals in Science Regulation Unit (ASRU) has published its compliance framework which identifies and investigates potential incidents of non-compliance and decides on appropriate and proportionate measures to minimise the risk of recurrence. Available at: www.gov.uk/guidance/animal-testing-and-research-compliance-with-aspa.
Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of the number of inspectors employed within the Home Office’s Animals in Science Regulation Unit.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Regulator’s capacity and capability for service delivery and compliance assurance purposes is aligned with the requirements defined in the legislation. This includes in-person announced and unannounced visits to licensed establishments. The Regulator has strengthened its regulatory oversight and published its process of full system audits at: www.gov.uk/guidance/animal-research-technical-advice#process-and-standards-for-establishment-full-system-audits. The Regulator is presently recruiting further Inspectors to enhance capacity.