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Animals in Scientific Procedures: Annual Report

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Crime Reduction (Mr Alan Campbell) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement. I am pleased to inform the House that I have today placed in the Library the annual report of the Home Office Animals in Scientific Procedures Division and Inspectorate for the year 2008. Publication of the report honours a commitment given by the Government in response to a recommendation of the House of Lords Select Committee on Animals in Scientific Procedures in July 2002 that more information should be made available about the implementation of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986. Earlier annual reports have focused on the work of the Animals in Scientific Procedures Inspectorate. The report for 2008 has been expanded to include the work of the Animals in Scientific Procedures Division licensing and policy teams. As in previous years, the report explains what Home Office inspectors do and how they do it and the inspectorate’s role in assessing and advising on applications for personal and project licences and certificates of designation under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986. The report also explains the work that we have been doing to deliver our better regulation programme and new IT systems to improve our regulation of animal experimentation and provides background to the publication by the European Commission of a proposal for a new European directive to replace directive 86/609/EEC, on which the 1986 Act is based. I commend the report to the attention of the House.