---

Home Office

Answer

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much money has been made available to the Animal Procedures Committee in each year since 1997 specifically aimed at (a) developing and (b) promoting alternatives to animal experimentation; and if he will make a statement. [145442] Caroline Flint: Since the financial year 1988-89, the Home Office has made available to the Animal Procedures Committee a budget for the development and promotion of alternatives which replace animal use, reduce the number of animals used, or refine the procedures involved to minimise suffering (the 3Rs). Work aimed at improving the environmental conditions in which laboratory animals are kept and transported has also been sponsored. Details of completed research are published in the Annual Reports of the Animal Procedures Committee, which are available from The Stationery Office and, for recent years, on the Committee's website. The Committee seeks to allocate 60 per cent. of the budgets provided on research into reducing, refining and replacing the use of animals in scientific procedures and another 20 per cent. on the development and promotion of awareness and use of alternatives. The Committee seeks to allocate the remaining 20 per cent. to research into the operation of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986. The budget provided to the Committee for these purposes in each year since 1997-98 was: _________________________________________________________________________________________________. £ 1997-98 242,000 1998-99 182,000 1999-2000 259,000 2000-01 259,000 2001-02 265,000 2002-03 280,000 2003-04 280,000 _________________________________________________________________________________________________.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

145442; 416 c872W;416 c870W

Session

2003-04

Subjects

Animal experiments Finance Research Animal Procedures Committee

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

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