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Animal Breeding

Asked by Vikki SladeLiberal DemocratHome OfficeTabled Answered 5 January 2026UIN 100508

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information her Department holds on the number of animals in the UK who are bred for, but not used for, scientific research.

Answered by Dan Jarvis

The Home Office does not currently collect statistics on the number of animals in Great Britain that were bred for use in scientific procedures but were killed or died without being used in procedures.

Additional statistics were previously collected as required by European Directive 2010/63/EU. In 2017, the Home Office published these additional statistics covering the number of non-genetically altered animals that were bred for scientific procedures but were killed or died without being used in procedures, and the number of animals (genetically altered and non-genetically altered) subject to tissue sampling for the purposes of genotyping.

The Home Office is no longer required to collect and release additional statistics. Future publication of this data is under review.

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