Written questions by Robertson.

When she plans to answer Question 31252 on Home Office: Equality, tabled on 12 February 2025.

The Home Office answered PQ 31252 on 27 February; within the 5-day deadline for Ordinary Written Parliamentary Questions.

What proportion of project licence applications under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 were returned to the applicant with a request for additional information to address (a) errors and (b) the absence of essential information in each of the last four years.

The Regulator reports that project licence applications for the last four years had a mean number of 2.55 iterations before granting. The Regulator does not collect data on the number of applications withdrawn, but reports that such occurrences are rare.The Home Office Regulator for animals in science provides comprehensive guidance to project licence applicants and has a thorough and extensive application process; see Guidance at:https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6700017e080bdf716392ee63/Guidance_on_the_operation_of_ASPA_-_December_2023.pdfApplicants may not apply for a licence unless they are doing so under an Establishment licence with all the associated requirements of the legislation, have demonstrable funding and can demonstrate appropriate availability of resources as well as having been through a rigorous process of local checks and balances. First time applications to the Regulator are therefore of general high conformity with legal requirements.

What proportion of project licence applications under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 were rejected in each of the last four years.

Between 1 January 2021 and 1 January 2025, one application for a project licence under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 was refused.The Government publishes extensive guidance for the regulated sector on applying for project licences. Applications are internally reviewed by an establishment’s Animal Welfare and Ethical Review Body before being submitted to the regulator for assessment. Home Office Inspectors in the Regulator will only review applications from establishments that fulfil all requirements of the legislation.Applications received by the regulator may be returned to the applicant for clarification and/or amendment before being re-assessed. Applicants may also amend or withdraw an application in response to feedback from the regulator.The structuring of the application process means that the number of applications refused is not an indicator of the robustness of the regulatory regime.

What steps her Department are making to help reduce the number of businesses that breach visa employment rules.

I refer the Honourable Member to the Written Ministerial Statement I laid before the House on 28 November, titled 'Visa Sponsorship’.

What proportion of project licences applied for under the Animal Welfare (Scientific Experiments) Act 1986 were refused in (a) 2021, (b) 2022 and (c) 2023.

Between 1 January 2021 and 1 January 2025, one application for a project licence under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 was refused.The Government publishes extensive guidance for the regulated sector on applying for project licences. Applications are internally reviewed by an establishment’s Animal Welfare and Ethical Review Body before being submitted to the regulator for assessment. Home Office Inspectors in the Regulator will only review applications from establishments that fulfil all requirements of the legislation.Applications received by the regulator may be returned to the applicant for clarification and/or amendment before being re-assessed. Applicants may also amend or withdraw an application in response to feedback from the regulator.The structuring of the application process means that the number of applications refused is not an indicator of the robustness of the regulatory regime.

How many and what proportion of officials in her Department can allocate a proportion of their contracted working hours to diversity network activities; what the names of each of those networks are; and what the average time allocated to those activities was.

I refer the Hon Gentlemen to the answer provided by Lord Hanson to question HL1115 on 30 September 2024.

How many applications for project licences to conduct experiments on animals under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 were refused permission between 30 September 2024 and 1 January 2025.

Between 1 January 2021 and 1 January 2025, one application for a project licence under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 was refused.The Government publishes extensive guidance for the regulated sector on applying for project licences. Applications are internally reviewed by an establishment’s Animal Welfare and Ethical Review Body before being submitted to the regulator for assessment. Home Office Inspectors in the Regulator will only review applications from establishments that fulfil all requirements of the legislation.Applications received by the regulator may be returned to the applicant for clarification and/or amendment before being re-assessed. Applicants may also amend or withdraw an application in response to feedback from the regulator.The structuring of the application process means that the number of applications refused is not an indicator of the robustness of the regulatory regime.

With reference to the Animals in Science Regulation Unit's annual report 2023, published on 17 December 2024, what steps her Department is taking to stop future instances of animals (a) dying and (b) being euthanised as a result of their cages flooding.

The Home Office Regulator expects all establishments licensed under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 that use automatic watering systems for animals to have appropriate fail safes in place. The Regulator publishes standard conditions in the Regulation against which it assesses compliance through audit and reporting (Standard Condition 4: www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-operation-of-the-animals-scientific-procedures-act-1986).The Home Office takes failures in these systems, that represent non-compliance with the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986, seriously. The Home Office regulator reviews each non-compliance case and provides details in its annual report (www.gov.uk/government/publications/animals-in- science-regulation-unit-annual-report-2023). Sanctions are applied in cases of non-compliance to reduce the risk of future non-compliance. Data regarding non-compliances is used to inform the risk-based audit programme.

How many staff are employed to (a) process and (b) issue project licences for experiments using animals regulated by the Animal Welfare (Scientific Experiments) Act 1986.

The number of staff that are employed to process and issue project licences in the Home Office Regulator, under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986, are published in the Regulator’s annual report accessible at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/animals-in-science-regulation-unit-annual-reports. At the end of 2023 the total number of Inspector staff in the Regulator was 17.The Regulator is undertaking a structured programme of reforms. This will increase the total number of Inspectors to 22 by end of 2025. The Regulator will then operate a flexibly resourced licensing function and allocate resource according to demand.

How many (a) internal policy reviews, (b) independent reviews, (c) external reviews, (d) taskforces, (e) public consultations, (f) investigations and (g) other reviews their Department launched between 5 July 2024 and 5 January 2025; what the titles were of those reviews; and how many of those reviews have been (i) completed and (ii) published.

This Government has outlined its ambitions through the Plan for Change, which sets out an ambitious set of milestones - across the missions - for this Parliament.As the House would expect, Government continually reviews its work to ensure that it is delivering the best outcomes for the people of the United Kingdom, and that its policies continue to represent the best value for the taxpayer.Public reviews will be available on Gov.uk as they are published.