ALH Accreditation Board

The Royal Society of Biology (RSB) has a long-established Animal Licence Holder (ALH) Accreditation Board. The main purpose of which is to provide accreditation to approved UK modular training courses held throughout the UK, and beyond, where applicable. Modular courses provide training to all personnel wishing to work with laboratory animals under authority of The Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986, and associated legislation. UK accreditation of courses is also provided by the Universities Training Group (UTG), and predominantly in Scotland by the Scottish Accreditation Board (SAB).

The new European Directive 2010/63 (to replace EU 86/609) was finalised and came into force across the EU in November 2010. Full implementation of the Directive commenced 1st January 2013. The main legally binding parts of the text are the ‘articles’ and ‘annexes’. The introductory ‘recitals’ are intended to explain and justify the rest of the Directive, but little weight should be given to the recitals for interpreting the Directive. The goal of the Directive is three-fold:

1. To 'harmonise' animal research legislation across EU countries, to ensure a level playing field throughout the EU for industry and the research community.
2. To strengthen the protection for animals used in scientific procedures in line with the EC Treaty of Rome protocol on animal welfare.
3. To implement fully the principles of the 3Rs (reduction, refinement and replacement of the use of animals for research).

The European Commission established an Expert Working Group (EWG) to develop a common education and training framework for the EU to fulfil the requirements under Articles 23, and 24 of Directive 2010/63/EU on the protection of animals used for scientific purposes. All Members States and main stakeholder organisations were invited to nominate experts to participate in the work. The EWG met on 22 - 23 February and 19-20 September 2012, and 3-4 July 2013.

The EWG agreed that training for personnel wishing to work with animals should be:

• Flexible
• Available and Accessible
• Affordable
• Agreed Quality

There are 4 main ‘Functions’ of personnel that require training:

1. Function A: Persons performing procedures – in the UK this would be the PERSONAL licence holder.
2. Function B: Persons designing procedures – in the UK this would be the PROJECT licence holder.
3. Function C: Persons caring for animals – in the UK this would be an Animal Technologist.
4. Function D: Persons humanely killing animals – in the UK this would normally be Animal Care Staff.

The Chair of the RSB ALH Accreditation Board (Fraser Darling) was the UK Home Office nominated expert who attended these important discussions at the European Commission. All UK modular courses for personnel wishing to work with animals now follow the working document on the development of a common education and training framework to fulfil the requirements under the Directive.

The Chair of the RSB ALH Accreditation Board presented at the Accreditation and Training Stakeholder Group at Home Officer, in October 2022. Click here to view the presentation. 

RSB Responsibilities as an Accrediting Body

The main responsibilities of the Royal Society of Biology Animal Licence Holder (ALH) Accrediting Board are to:

1. Offer advice and information to prospective course providers;
2. Approve or accredit courses which respond to the agreed quality criteria;
3. Ensure consistency of content and outcomes across modules;
4. Ensure compliance with declared objectives and procedures in relation to the delivery of training and assessment of the set Learning Outcomes;
5. Apply and review the mechanisms for monitoring the successful outcome of training and assessment.

EU guidance is developed to respond to a need for harmonisation and a common framework to ensure competence and to facilitate free movement of personnel. It is important to note that the outcome is on the basis of general agreement and not binding. It is left to each Member State to interpret whether and how this general guidance is to be implemented. However, any agreement at EU level on general principles will also assist those developing training courses to work towards common, acceptable standards. This in return should result in a wider offering of available training courses to promote the aims of availability, accessibility and affordability.

The EU2010/63 common education and training framework includes consideration of the training, supervision, competence assessment and continuing training requirements of persons carrying out procedures, taking care of animals, killing animals and of those responsible for the design of procedures and projects.

http://ec.europa.eu/environment/chemicals/lab_animals/pdf/guidance/education_training/en.pdf

The common education and training framework facilitates and assures the competence of all persons involved in the use, care and breeding of animals for scientific procedures, and assists the free movement of personnel.

Caring for Animals - aiming for better science

The ALH Accreditation Board has been in existence for 25 years and provides accreditation to a wide variety of clients based with academia, commercial, charity and private companies. Our client base includes Charles River UK, Covance Laboratories, the Royal Veterinary College (RVC), Medical Research Council (MRC), dstl, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), and Porton Down. We have accredited other organisations throughout the European Union where applicable, and supported training and accreditation for USA-based personnel who are required by their organisation to work periodically within the UK.

Accredited Course Providers:

• The Learning Curve
• The Royal Veterinary College
• Labcorp
• Charles River
• MRC Harwell
• Queen Mary University of London - Wingate Institute

More information on animal handling and the 3 R's can be found here.

RSB has close links with Fondazione Guido Bernardini based in Italy, that was established in 2009 as an independent, non-profit organization in memory of Guido Bernardini

FGB is devoted to continuing education and training of professionals involved in the care, welfare and use of laboratory animals; the overall mission is to support the humane and responsible use of animals in science and to promote the quality of biomedical research by encouraging high standards of knowledge and competence in scientific and technical staff.

The courses and scientific events are dedicated to an international audience to improve the harmonization of principles and attitudes. The syllabi of the courses are developed and regularly updated to include new subjects and innovative technologies.

Fondazione Guido Bernardini

Members of the ALH Accreditation Board provide their services free of charge and come from a wide variety of backgrounds. We have representatives from Industry, veterinarians, and others from Academia, and contract research providers.

Whilst we meet several times each year, we try whenever possible to conduct business electronically. The Royal Society of Biology is based at its headquarters in central London, and we meet with our course organisers either on an individual basis at their premises, or annually at our course organisers meeting.

The Royal Society of Biology was a signatory to the recent Concordat to ensure continued openness in the use of animals in biomedical research, and we will continue to provide information to our stakeholders and other interested parties on the work that we perform.

Concordat on Openness on Animal Research in the UK

As an organisation responsible for training, we are committed to the principles of the 3Rs: Reduction, Refinement and Replacement in relation to the use of animals in research. If you would like to know more about the ALH Accreditation Board, please contact Fraser Darling at fraser.darling@rsb.org.uk

The 3Rs: their definition, application and importance to your work

Any aspiring in vivo researcher or animal technician should have a firm understanding of how following the principles of the 3Rs can drive better science and improved animal welfare. This 18-minute video presentation from the NC3Rs has been created to serve as a foundation for this understanding, and to encourage scientists and animal technicians to consider and implement the 3Rs throughout their careers. It is also an excellent primer for anyone interested to learn more about the 3Rs in principle and practice.

The video includes:

• Definitions and explanations of each of the 'Rs'
• Practical advice on how to implement the 3Rs throughout a research project
• Video case studies of 3Rs research
• Information on the various resources the NC3Rs provides to support anyone working with animals in research

For more information on the video presentation and how it can be used to support greater engagement in the 3Rs, see the NC3Rs blog

There is an excellent video presentation by the NC3Rs which can be viewed and downloaded from the NC3Rs website:

https://www.nc3rs.org.uk/contemporary-training-3rs

Further information on the 3Rs can be found here

A new guiding principles document from the LASA Education Training and Ethics Section, and the RSPCA Animals in Science Department was recently published and will help course organisers and trainers in the UK in delivering the ethics learning outcomes in Module 2 in respect of Personal licence course attendees.

AIM

Delivering, and assessing, the ethics learning outcomes in personal licensee (PIL) training courses is an important component of licensee training, but this has never been easy.  There are now defined ‘ethics learning outcomes’ for Module 2, but these do not go into detail about the aims of this aspect of the course, the topics to include, or the approach to take. Students often have no background in ethics or do not understand what ‘ethics’ is (and is not). Furthermore, ethics is not 'black and white' and ethical dilemmas are open to personal interpretation.  Students may also have beliefs and opinions that can be deeply rooted and dictated by culture (e.g. religious, national, regulatory, institutional) or the attitudes of their peers. 

Never a group to resist a challenge, the LASA Education, Training and Ethics Section (ETES) together with the Animals in Science Department of the RSPCA, took on the task of developing some guiding principles for delivering the ethics learning outcomes.  The project was kickstarted through an interactive session with trainers at the Universities Training Group ‘Train the Trainers’ day in September 2018, to get a better idea of current problems and gather trainers' thoughts on how ethics training could be developed and improved.  Two years later, we have published the Guidance document which we hope will be useful to all trainers and course organisers.

We worked on the principle that there is often limited time and resource available for the course as a whole let alone for delivering the ethics learning outcomes, so it is important to find ways of maximising impact in the time available.  Another key point was that the training needed to be relevant to students, focussing on the practical application of ethics in the context of their use of animals rather than on detailed theory.

FORMAT

The Guidance is divided into two parts. The first deals with general principles:  the overall aim of ethics training; what ethics is in practice and why it is important; how it relates to the use of animals in research; and the principles underlying good practice in teaching this topic. It emphasises the benefits of ‘normalising’ ethics by showing how it pervades other aspects of science and life generally, focusing on the need for a relevant and practical approach that integrates ethics throughout the whole training course.  

The Guidance also deals with some common misconceptions. For example, ethics is often just equated with implementing the 3Rs and improving animal welfare.  However, although both these issues concern the reduction of overall animal suffering and are thus a factor in ethical decision‑making, ethics encompasses a much wider set of considerations and reflection about what it is justifiable to do to animals in the name of science. 

Part two focusses on the practical aspects of delivering the ethics learning outcomes. It is set out in tabled form with the key points to get across for each learning outcome set alongside ideas on how these could be delivered, emphasising the importance of illustrating the training with up to date and local examples wherever possible. There are some handy summary ‘dos and don’ts’, suggestions for development of training resources and opportunities for CPD (e.g. via the AWERB).

The Guidance is available to download from both the LASA and RSPCA websites at:

https://www.lasa.co.uk/current_publications/