Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the contribution by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Quality on 3 November 2014, House of Lords Official Report, column 1422, what the (a) membership and (b) terms of reference of the pneumococcal sub-committee of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation will be.
The advice of Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) Sub-committees is considered by the JCVI, often alongside key evidence on which the advice is based. Following consideration of the evidence, the JCVI will make a decision on adoption of the Sub-committee’s advice.
The JCVI review of the adult pneumococcal vaccination programme will begin in spring 2015, with a review of the relevant evidence being undertaken by a JCVI Pneumococcal Sub-committee. As set out in the JCVI Code of Practice, the JCVI will consider the advice of the Sub-committee and may decide to issue an interim statement for a short period of consultation with those stakeholders who submitted evidence that informed the Committee’s advice.
The role of JCVI Sub-committees and the mechanism for selection of Sub-committee membership is described in the JCVI Code of Practice. The membership of established sub-committees is set out in minutes of the meetings and on the GOV.UK web site at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/joint-committee-on-vaccination-and-immunisation.
Draft terms of reference for the JCVI Pneumococcal Sub-committee will be considered and agreed at the first meeting of the sub-committee and recorded in the minute of the meeting.
The JCVI Code of Practice is available at: