Our aim is to phase out animal testing as soon as is practicable. We have been working closely, and it was a manifesto commitment of ours. We have been meeting scientists and other Departments, because this area is not the sole responsibility of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. We intend to publish a strategy by the end of this year to make good on our manifesto commitment.
I am the chair of the all-party parliamentary group on phasing out animal experiments in medical research, where Members from all parties can work together to push for scientific experiments that do not rely on animal cruelty and to encourage a focus on non-animal replacements. Will the Minister meet me and the APPG to discuss future plans and a strategy for the manifesto commitment on phasing out animal testing?
I did not know that my hon. Friend had taken over the APPG; it is a good thing that it exists. We will work very closely with the APPG. Whether I am the right Minister or whether there is a more intelligent Minister—or a more charming one, perhaps—who might be of more assistance to her, I will make sure that she gets all the Ministers that she needs.
In my constituency of Huntingdon, I have two sites that form a key component of pre-clinical animal testing. Labcorp, where the testing takes place, and Marshall BioResources, where the beagle puppies are bred and then tested on. Almost none survive the testing process. While I do not support animal testing, I recognise that it is currently a necessary element of the pre-clinical testing process and cannot be phased out until non-animal methods have sufficient scope. The Minister for Science, Research and Innovation wrote to me in September outlining the Government’s approach to phasing out animal testing, but will the Government publish a timeline of what tests will be phased out via the work of the National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research and when?
I cannot provide the hon. Gentleman with that timeline now. We are working at pace trying to put together a practicable policy and a strategy which, as I said, we will publish by the end of the year. He makes a perfectly good point about the complexities. It will not be easy for the MHRA to meet its international commitments and our manifesto commitments. We are happy to work with the sector as well as with other Departments to deliver this, and I am happy to have a conversation with him if that would help.