Skip to main content

Departmental Detergents

Volume 491: debated on Tuesday 21 April 2009

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will make it her policy to ensure that no cleaning products or ingredients of cleaning products used by her Department have been tested on animals. (261125)

My Department inclusive of its agencies does not generally contract directly for cleaning services, but procures them through wider Facilities Management (FM) or operational service contractors. Typically contracts between my Department and FM suppliers stipulate that the suppliers should consider environmentally preferable products and materials. Our key suppliers have confirmed that their policy is only to use cleaning products or ingredients tested on animals if required to meet legal requirements.

National and international regulatory bodies require that products, ingredients and chemicals are tested to ensure that they are not a danger to children, adults, household pets and the environment. Until reliable alternatives are developed, this means that procedures have to be performed using animals.