Speeches

Henry Smith – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Henry Smith on 2014-07-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Annual Statistics of Scientific Procedures on Living Animals Great Britain 2013, what assessment she has made of the reasons for the changes in the number of procedures in the fundamental biological research category.

Norman Baker

The Annual Statistics of Scientific Procedures on Living Animals in Great Britain 2013 report a total of 1.16 million procedures were conducted on animals with ‘Fundamental biological research’ as the primary purpose. This is a reduction of 11% over the figure for 2012. The change in the number of procedures carried out in this category, in any particular year, depends on many factors. These factors include: investment in fundamental biological research; strategic decisions taken by funding bodies; global economic trends; scientific innovation; and, the development and uptake of validated alternative technologies.