Letter from Baroness Williams to the Chair of the Animals in Science Committee (accessible version)
Published 12 August 2020
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Professor David Main
Animals in Science Committee 14th Floor Lunar House
40 Wellesley Road Croydon
CR9 2BY
24 June 2020
Dear David,
Re: Animal in Science Committee – Closure of commission of work (2018 – 2019)
Thank you for your letter of 29 May. I am grateful for the work that the Committee has completed during the 2018/19 commission. I welcome your continued fostering of productive working relationships with ASRU that facilitate constructive challenge from the Committee on our policies, processes and operational delivery.
The Committee’s oversight of project licences is fundamental to our aim of protecting animals in science and providing public assurances. The Committee’s undertaking of project licence reviews has provided valuable feedback. I look forward to the Committee’s work on project licence analysis that will support us delivering improvements. Looking to the future, I am keen that we develop this work so your review process can provide deeper insights that can be applied by the Regulator across similar applications. Thereby, we leverage greater value from each of your reviews.
The advice from the Committee on the non-technical summaries has had much value in better meeting the responsibilities for outward communications of the work being done under the Act on any project licence. This important work will enable us to better meet our commitment to openness and transparency on the use of animals in research. The Committee’s AWERB Subgroup and Hub Networks add value in the continued development and promulgation of best practice. This is both a stated aim of the Act and an important aspiration to ensure that whenever animals have to be used to achieve a scientific objective, we ensure that this includes only the fewest numbers with the least associated suffering.
I look forward to being updated on the work the Committee has made on the working criteria used to identify issues of societal concern in due course. I will shortly be in touch with you to discuss the goals for the next ASC commission.
Baroness Williams of Trafford