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Home Office

Answer

John Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many places in Scotland are designated as (a) a supplying establishment, (b) a breeding establishment and (c) a scientific procedure establishment under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986; [195840] (2) how many regulated procedures under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 were carried out in Scotland in (a) 2002 and (b) 2003; [195841] (3) how many project licences were granted under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 in (a) 2002 and (b) 2003 in respect of work to be carried out in Scotland. [195849] Caroline Flint: Comprehensive statistics regarding the licensed use in Great Britain of animals under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 are published annually. Copies of the publications for 2002 and 2003 can be found in the House Library (Cm 5886 and Cm 6291 respectively). However, the data is not collected, stored or presented in a way enabling it to be easily broken down between England, Wales and Scotland. There is normally no requirement for that, as the 1986 Act is administered by the Home Office for the whole of Britain (it is administered separately in Northern Ireland). A special exercise has therefore been conducted to isolate the information requested in these Questions. At 31 December 2003 (the latest available published data) there were 35 establishments in Scotland designated as places where licensed scientific procedures using animals may be conducted. Of these 20 were also designated as breeding establishments and nine as supplying establishments. The number of recorded regulated procedures conducted in Scotland in 2002 under the 1986 Act was 418,952. The corresponding figure for 2003 is 433,646. In each year this represents just over 15 per cent. of the total for Britain. In 2002 a total of 91 project licences were granted in Scotland under the 1986 Act. The corresponding figure for 2003 is 75. Each year licences expire or are revoked, as well as granted. For completeness, and to give a more accurate idea of the overall amount of licensed work conducted, I should therefore add that there were 559 project licences in force in Scotland at the end of 2002, and 560 at the end of 2003.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

426 c1603-4W;426 c1606-7W; 195840;195841;195849

Session

2003-04

Subjects

Animal breeding Animal experiments Licensing Scotland

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk