Did the number of animals used in laboratories increase in 2023?

The Home Office are due to publish the Statistics of scientific procedures on living animals in Great Britain for 2023. We have had replies to our Freedom of Information requests and there have been many who have shown an increase when compared to 2022. Why would there need to be an increase when science should be moving forward not backwards. We hope the overall figure is lower than in 2022.

We asked The University of Manchester why the number of procedures has in creased in 2022 & 2023 (87,535 in 2021, 95,004 in 2022 and 109,435 in 2023) this was their reply:

“In response to your request we wanted to point out that the Freedom of Information Act provides a means of access to recorded information that is held, and not covered by an exemption. It does not cover opinion or explanation except for where that information is recorded. That said, we do always try to offer explanation to aid understanding of the circumstances where it is reasonable to do so.   In this case, we can explain the following:

The number of animals used is determined by the number of research projects that have successfully gone through the licensing process. This process involves the approval from both the University of Manchester’s statutory ethical review board and the Home Office, which must be satisfied that no viable non animal alternatives exist.”

What do you believe should happen if a non-animal model exists? Should the licence be granted?