To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which organisations (a) she and (b) other Ministers in her Department have met to discuss the proposed revision to European Council Directive 86/609/EEC on the protection of animals used for research or other scientific purposes in the last 12 months. (260529)

The European Commission proposal for a draft directive for the protection of animals used in scientific procedures to replace directive 86/609/EEC was published in November 2008. I have met with the Animal Procedures Committee, the All Party Parliamentary FRAME Group and the BioIndustry Association to discuss aspects of the draft directive, and participated in a European Scrutiny Committee debate on the same issue. I am also due to meet representatives from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection (BUAV) later this week (12 March).

I have also received written representations about the draft directive and Home Office officials have met with a wide and representative cross-section of relevant stakeholder groups to discuss its provisions. The Home Secretary and other Home Office Ministers have not been involved in any of these discussions.