Dear Home Office Science Advisory Committee,
Can you please confirm that you are the advisory committee who assist the Secretary of State in deciding whether to consent to the setting free or rehoming of a relevant protected animal? The Animals in Scientific Procedures Act states the Secretary of State can only consent when satisfied that a number of conditions are met. Section 17 a (3) and section 18 (4). I am not asking about the licence holder and the advice note regarding rehoming but the decisions taken by the Secretary of State specifically with regard to the matter of giving consent or not. If this is not the Home Office Science Advisory Committee, then who exactly is responsible for proivding that advice directly to the Secretary of State please? Also if you are not the advisory committee providing advise on individual rehoming of relevant protected animals, could you please explain why you are not doing so given your role and terms of reference to the Secretary of State in this matter?

Yours faithfully,

Linda Birr-Pixton