ASRU - Not Fit For Purpose

In 2019, when the Animals in Science Regulation Unit (ASRU) published the Non-Technical Summaries (NTSs*) for the project licences it had granted, it should have realised something was wrong. The number of licences had almost doubled compared with previous years. ASRU was alerted to the error by a supporter of Camp Beagle.

It turned out that a number of licences from 2018 had been duplicated, meaning the estimated number of animals authorised for use had been overstated by no less than 7.61 MILLION.

ASRU commissioned two supposedly independent investigations into this major error. We later tried to obtain the investigation reports through a Freedom of Information request, but access to the information was refused.

Recently, the First-tier Tribunal (General Regulatory Chamber) ruled in ASRU’s favour, deciding that the public cannot see even heavily redacted versions of the investigation reports. It was argued that disclosing the reports would inhibit ASRU staff from being candid during future investigations. It was also claimed that ASRU did not want to create a “blame culture”.

The full tribunal decision is available here.

We are currently involved in two more General Regulatory Chamber appeals, both of which are awaiting hearing dates.

A huge amount of work goes into these appeals and, as always, we want to thank Adam Richardson of 4–5 Gray’s Inn Square and Vanessa Challess of Bonsai Law for their invaluable support.

*Every project licence application must be accompanied by a Non-Technical Summary (NTS), which ASRU publishes.

An NTS briefly explains the purpose of the project licence and must include information such as the estimated number and species of animals to be used.