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79400

registered interest
date	22/07/2014
answering body	Home Office
answering dept id	1
answering dept short name	Home Office
answering dept sort name	Home Office
hansard heading	Animal Experiments
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the numbers of inspectors in post to monitor animal experiments.
tabling member constituency	Livingston
tabling member printed	Graeme Morrice
uin	206930
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/09/2014 answer text <p>The Animals in Science Regulation Unit Inspectorate plays a key role in the implementation of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986.</p><p>I am committed to maintaining a strong and properly resourced inspectorate, and a full, risk-based programme of inspections. The relationship between inspectors, licence holders and animal care staff is crucial to the effective implementation of the regulatory framework. I will not jeopardise that relationship. <br><br>In June 2014 I agreed that the current number of inspectors was sufficient to meet the requirements of the 1986 Act following the implementation of European Directive 2010/63/EU. There are three key factors to be achieved from an effective risk based inspection regime, monitoring compliance, intelligence gathering and an educational role. The Inspectorate implements a risk-based approach to inspection and the effectiveness of the risk-based approach continues to be monitored.<br><br>I commissioned the Animals in Science Committee to provide me with an independent report to consider lessons to be learnt from reviews and <br>investigations into non-compliance stemming from allegations of non-compliance at Imperial College London. The ASC report was published on 2 July 2014 and it found no evidence of omission on the part of the Home Office Inspectorate in their oversight of ICL. I welcome and endorse its confidence in the work of inspectors.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Lewes answering member printed Norman Baker question first answered 01/09/2014 16:50:46 answering member 28 label Biography information for Norman Baker
tabling member	4012 label Biography information for Graeme Morrice

79402

registered interest
date	22/07/2014
answering body	Home Office
answering dept id	1
answering dept short name	Home Office
answering dept sort name	Home Office
hansard heading	Animal Experiments
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many animals were used in (a) between two and five, (b) between six and 10, (c) between 11 and 15, (d) between 16 and 19 and (e) more than 20 scientific procedures in 2013; and what assessment she has made of the reasons for increases in the number of animals being used in more than one scientific procedure.
tabling member constituency	Lewisham West and Penge
tabling member printed	Jim Dowd
uin	206983
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/09/2014 answer text <p> </p><p>The Home Office does not hold the information asked for, as it does not form part of the regular data collection.<br><br>The Secretary of State must give consent to the re-use of an animal in scientific procedures and specifically authorise the re-use in the project licence. Details of the specific conditions are in Section 5:19 of the Guidance on the Operation of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986.<br><br>Home Office Inspectors will assess all project licence applications and this will include a rigorous harm / benefit analysis to ensure that the likely benefits of the work justify the expected harms that will be experienced by the animals. Work will only be authorised if it is for one of the permissible purposes outlined in section 5.3 (C) of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 and if the harms have been minimised.<br><br>During the lifetime of the licence the harms and benefits are continually reviewed by the Inspectorate as part of the Inspection regime and also by the licence holder and other named officials within the establishment. This is to ensure that harms are always minimised whilst delivering benefits.<br><br>The majority of re-use is where animals have been subject to mild procedures such as dosing and sampling procedures in the testing of novel treatments, or blood collection for diagnostic purposes or for further laboratory tests not involving the use of live animals.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Lewes answering member printed Norman Baker question first answered 01/09/2014 16:43:55 answering member 28 label Biography information for Norman Baker
tabling member	189 label Biography information for Jim Dowd

79085

registered interest
date	21/07/2014
answering body	Home Office
answering dept id	1
answering dept short name	Home Office
answering dept sort name	Home Office
hansard heading	Animal Experiments
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to provide for whistle-blowers to report concerns over breaches of animal experimentation licences.
tabling member constituency	Livingston
tabling member printed	Graeme Morrice
uin	206756
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/09/2014 answer text <p>The Animals in Science Committee report on &quot;Lessons to be Learnt&quot; recommended that Establishment Licence holders should ensure that all those involved with work under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 have a readily accessible means of raising ‘causes for concern’ with the management of their establishment. The Government response confirmed that we will take this forward.<br><br>Mechanisms for raising causes of concerns should be an integral component of a good culture of care and therefore bought into the remit of the Home Office Inspectorate. The Inspectorate has already worked with several organisations to develop guidance for interested parties.<br><br>Establishment licence holders should have systems in place to facilitate reporting of concerns as part of the requirement of the Animal Welfare &amp; Ethical Review Body to establish and review management and operational processes for monitoring, reporting and follow up in relation to the welfare of animals housed or used in the licensed establishment.<br><br>The processes put in place are monitored as part of the inspection regime.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Lewes answering member printed Norman Baker question first answered 01/09/2014 16:26:58 answering member 28 label Biography information for Norman Baker
tabling member	4012 label Biography information for Graeme Morrice

79086

registered interest
date	21/07/2014
answering body	Home Office
answering dept id	1
answering dept short name	Home Office
answering dept sort name	Home Office
hansard heading	Animal Experiments
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure that research scientists are given appropriate training to understand the terms of their animal experimentation licences.
tabling member constituency	Livingston
tabling member printed	Graeme Morrice
uin	206757
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/09/2014 answer text <p> </p><p>The training requirements for all licence holders under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 are set out in section 9 of the Guidance on the Operation of the 1986 Act.<br><br>The licensed establishments Named Training &amp; Competency Officer (NTCO) has to confirm the suitability of applicants for personal licences and applicants are required to satisfactorily complete the relevant formal module training provided by Accredited Training Bodies.<br><br>Personal licence holders are also required to undertake practical training under supervision until confirmed as competent in each technique at their place(s) of work. They should review their training and supervision needs regularly with their NTCO as a minimum every five years but generally more frequently.<br><br>Training for project licence holders includes the formal module training required and applicants will need to demonstrate the necessary scientific expertise and knowledge to direct and manage the programme of work applied for.<br><br>Establishment licence holders and Named Persons Responsible for Compliance are expected to understand the relevant legal and ethical issues relating to the use of animals under the 1986 Act. They are expected to undertake accredited training in the relevant module(s) to provide this understanding.<br><br>Records of training, supervision and competence are required to be kept by the Establishment and are open to inspection.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Lewes answering member printed Norman Baker question first answered 01/09/2014 16:18:30 answering member 28 label Biography information for Norman Baker
tabling member	4012 label Biography information for Graeme Morrice

79087

registered interest
date	21/07/2014
answering body	Home Office
answering dept id	1
answering dept short name	Home Office
answering dept sort name	Home Office
hansard heading	Animal Experiments
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the implications for the regulatory regime for animal experimentation of the findings of the Animals in Science Committee report into Imperial College, published in July 2014.
tabling member constituency	Livingston
tabling member printed	Graeme Morrice
uin	206758
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/09/2014 answer text <p>The Animals in Science Committee found no evidence of omission on the part of the Animals in Science Regulation Unit and its inspectors in their oversight of Imperial College London. I welcome and endorse their confidence in the work of inspectors. <br><br>Nevertheless, the ASC report makes several sensible recommendations to support inspectors in achieving improvement in establishments where a pattern of low-level concerns is apparent. The outcome of all the ASC’s recommendations should be to drive better practice across all licensed establishments and I intend to ensure these improvements are made. I have fully accepted all the recommendations.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Lewes answering member printed Norman Baker question first answered 01/09/2014 16:02:46 answering member 28 label Biography information for Norman Baker
tabling member	4012 label Biography information for Graeme Morrice

79088

registered interest
date	21/07/2014
answering body	Home Office
answering dept id	1
answering dept short name	Home Office
answering dept sort name	Home Office
hansard heading	Animal Experiments
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what research her Department has conducted or assessed on the level of comprehension among research scientists conducting animal experiments about the terms of animal experimentation licences which they hold.
tabling member constituency	Livingston
tabling member printed	Graeme Morrice
uin	206759
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/09/2014 answer text <p> </p><p>Licence applicants are required to undergo formal training prior to obtaining licence which includes a requirement to understand the legislation and detailed information about their roles and responsibilities. Establishments are also required to continue to assess the competency of those holding licences, including their understanding of roles and responsibilities. These records of training, supervision and competence are available for formal inspection.<br><br>As part of the inspection process, Home Office Inspectors regularly monitor licence holders’ understanding of their licences.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Lewes answering member printed Norman Baker question first answered 01/09/2014 16:30:23 answering member 28 label Biography information for Norman Baker
tabling member	4012 label Biography information for Graeme Morrice

79089

registered interest
date	21/07/2014
answering body	Home Office
answering dept id	1
answering dept short name	Home Office
answering dept sort name	Home Office
hansard heading	Animal Experiments
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her Department's publication Statistics of Scientific Procedures on Living Animals, Great Britain 2013, published on 10 July 2014, what assessment she has made of the reasons for the large number of procedures involving (a) sheep and (b) mice relative to the number of other animals used.
tabling member constituency	Torbay
tabling member printed	Mr Adrian Sanders
uin	206786
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 01/09/2014 answer text <p> </p><p> </p><p>Mice are the most commonly used species due to long standing use in research, meaning that there is considerable existing data on the use of this species, their small size makes them convenient laboratory species, and most importantly now, is the availability of many genetically altered strains.<br><br>The vast majority of sheep are used for production of blood products, including normal blood and antisera. Their large size and ease of housing and handling make them ideal animals for the large scale production of these products (other species also used for this purpose, but to a much lesser extent, are rabbits, horses and rodents). Repeated blood sampling is often counted as a separate use, hence the large number of re-uses for this species.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Lewes answering member printed Norman Baker question first answered 01/09/2014 16:34:28 answering member 28 label Biography information for Norman Baker
tabling member	237 label Biography information for Mr Adrian Sanders

78912

registered interest
date	18/07/2014
answering body	Home Office
answering dept id	1
answering dept short name	Home Office
answering dept sort name	Home Office
hansard heading	Animal Experiments
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department grants permission to laboratories to cut the vocal cords of dogs in order to reduce noise.
tabling member constituency	Livingston
tabling member printed	Graeme Morrice
uin	206627
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/07/2014 answer text <p>The Home Office would not authorise the cutting of vocal cords of dogs under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986. We cannot envisage any scenario where that would be acceptable unless it were for the health and well-being of the individual animal with the procedure conducted under Veterinary Surgeons Act.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Lewes answering member printed Norman Baker question first answered 30/07/2014 12:48:32 answering member 28 label Biography information for Norman Baker
tabling member	4012 label Biography information for Graeme Morrice

78914

registered interest
date	18/07/2014
answering body	Home Office
answering dept id	1
answering dept short name	Home Office
answering dept sort name	Home Office
hansard heading	Animal Experiments
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the publication of Statistics of Scientific Procedures on Living Animals, Great Britain 2013, what assessment she has made of the reasons for the increase in the number of guinea pigs used in scientific procedures; and how many of those guinea pigs were used by DSTL Porton Down.
tabling member constituency	Brighton, Pavilion
tabling member printed	Caroline Lucas
uin	206618
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/08/2014 answer text <p> </p><p> </p><p>The increase in the number of guinea pigs used in scientific procedures during <br>2013 is largely due to a change from tissue (mainly blood) collection <br>post-mortem to collecting it ante-mortem. Collecting tissues post mortem is not <br>a regulated procedure and therefore is not reported in the statistics. <br><br>In real terms, the number of guinea pigs needed for the collection of a <br>specified volume of blood is fewer by the ante-mortem method than by the post- <br>mortem method previously used. The blood collection is carried out on <br>terminally anaesthetised guinea pigs, such that there is no actual additional <br>suffering for the individual animals, compared with the post mortem method. <br>Guinea pig blood and its components are used widely in biomedical research as <br>reagents for non-animal research methods. <br><br>The number of guinea pigs used by DSTL Porton Down cannot be given as Section <br>24 of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 prevents the Home Office <br>from releasing statistics for individual establishments. It is a decision for <br>the Ministry of Defence to decide what information to release in regards to <br>animals used under their individual certificates.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Lewes answering member printed Norman Baker question first answered 15/08/2014 12:15:00 answering member 28 label Biography information for Norman Baker
tabling member	3930 label Biography information for Caroline Lucas

78928

registered interest
date	18/07/2014
answering body	Home Office
answering dept id	1
answering dept short name	Home Office
answering dept sort name	Home Office
hansard heading	Animal Experiments
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her Department's publication, Statistics of Scientific Procedures on Living Animals, Great Britain 2013, what assessment she has made of the reasons for the increase in the number of procedures involving genetically-modified and harmful mutant animals; and what steps her Department is taking to reduce the numbers of such procedures.
tabling member constituency	Brighton, Pavilion
tabling member printed	Caroline Lucas
uin	206626
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 30/07/2014 answer text <p>The increase in the number of procedures involving genetically-modified and harmful mutant animals is mainly in support of breeding for non-regulatory research. Such animals are only used for breeding with no subsequent procedures performed.<br><br>I have already asked officials to examine options to drive down the number of procedures for breeding genetically altered animals.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member constituency Lewes answering member printed Norman Baker question first answered 30/07/2014 12:47:00 answering member 28 label Biography information for Norman Baker
tabling member	3930 label Biography information for Caroline Lucas