Written question asked by Claire Curtis-Thomas (Labour) on Wednesday, 31 March 2004, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 27 April 2004. It was answered by Caroline Flint (Labour) on Tuesday, 27 April 2004 on behalf of the Home Office.

Home Office

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how the classification of animal experiments is decided. - Inc ref to paragraph 5.42 of the published Home Office Guidance on the Operation of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 (HC321).

Answer: Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how the classification of animal experiments is decided. [165894] Caroline Flint: The Home Office issues project licences under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 for the use of protected animals for experimental and other scientific purposes. Project licences are assigned severity bands reflecting the average overall level of suffering likely to be experienced by the animals used on authorised programmes of work. Each protocol within a programme of work is assigned a severity limit which sets the maximum permissible level of suffering which could be experienced by any single animal used on that protocol. There are four severity bands and four severity limits: unclassified, mild, moderate and substantial. Definitions of these categories are provided in paragraph 5.42 of the published Home Office Guidance on the Operation of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act1986(HC321).

Secondary information