ASPA research

Science research involving animals and cephalopods is carefully monitored within the UK and may require licensing. Guidance may be required to establish whether your proposed research will cross ASPA threshold and require licence authority. Guidance may also be required to establish whether the proposed research is covered by an existing licence. Guidance can be provided by the Home Office licence contact (holo@st-andrews.ac.uk). If you require Home Office approval, you must submit both a Home Office application and an Animal Welfare and Ethics Committee (AWEC) application in order that your project can be assessed in accordance with the University's ethical review process.

Prior to commencing any research the following must be in place:

Establishment licence - appropriate designation for the site of research
Project licence - appropriate description, authority and justification
Personal licence – all personnal must be trained and competent in procedures that they perform

There must also be a study plan in place detailing the project and personnel involved. Guidance can be provided by your NACWO. Principal investigators must ensure that all other permits and permissions are in place when working at a Place Other than a Licenced Establishment (POLE).

The UK government has guidance notes for those preparing applications for project licences.

Each researcher who requires a personal licence should complete the following steps:
1. Contact their training officer via their supervisor or Home Office liaison contact to assist in organising training.
2. Complete the relevant training - this may require an assessment on animal handling by your training officer.
3. Request access to the online application form from the Home Office liaison contact (holo@st-andrews.ac.uk).
4. Complete and submit an online application to the electronic licencing system (ASPeL).
5. The training officer will need to approve your application, which will then automatically be submitted to the Home Office.
6. Await Home Office approval. A response from the Home Office normally occurs within two weeks.
If an amendment needs to be made to a personal license, licence holders should follow these steps:
1. Discuss changes with the relevant training officer (ensuring compliance to project licence).
2. Edit online form in ASPeL system.
3. Submit licence amendment to the training officer for approval.
4. Await Home Office approval. The Home Office liaison contact will send you confirmation of an amended licence.
The principal investigator will need to apply for a project licence for the research to be carried out. Before an application can be submitted to the Home Office for review, it must pass an internal ethical review by the University’s Animal Welfare Ethics Review Board (known as AWEC, Animal Welfare Ethics Committee).

The principal investigator should first consider the following steps before submitting an application to AWEC:
1. Complete external Home Office training for project holders.
2. Hold discussions with the Home Office liaison contact or facility managers on local issues and appropriate designation of the area.
3. Discuss application with the senior technician and named veterinary surgeon; if required, they will suggest refinements before confirming that their concerns have been addressed.
4. Hold initial discussions with the Home Office inspector via a meeting set up through the Home Office liaison contact. Follow up discussions may occur via phone.

Internal review

The principal investigator should submit the AWEC application forms, along with their Home Office application, to the Home Office liaison contact (holo@st-andrews.ac.uk) three weeks before the AWEC meeting in which they wish their application to be considered.

The AWEC application forms should be completed in language understandable to a lay person, and it should provide a summary of planned work to the committee.

ASPA research

Personal licence

Project licence

Internal review