To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he intends to make further appointments to the animal procedures committee; and if he will make a statement.
Following his appointment as the Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge, the chairman of the committee, Professor David Williams, has resigned from 31 December 1989. I am pleased to be able to announce that Lord Nathan has agreed to succeed him.
I am pleased to be able to announce further that Professor Barry Bridges, of Queen's university, Belfast; Dr. Fiona Broughton-Pipkin, of the Queen's medical centre, Nottingham; Dr. Susan Iversen, of Merck Sharp and Dohme Research Laboratories; and Professor Michael Spyer, of the Royal Free Hospital medical school, London, have also accepted appointments as members of the committee.
I should like to place on record my appreciation of the excellent way in which Professor Williams has chaired the committee since its formation following the passage of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986. I am grateful to Lord Nathan and the other new members for agreeing to serve on this committee.