Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to increase (a) awareness of and (b) education on cytomegalovirus among parents and children.

Health visitors and midwives, together with other health care professionals including general practitioners and general practice nurses provide advice and guidance to families at contacts in the pre-conception period, pregnancy and throughout early childhood.

To support direct clinical advice from health care professionals, Public Health England’s Start4Life social marketing programme informs parents-to-be and parents about cytomegalovirus via its Information Service for Parents subscription email service. This includes links to the National Health Service website, and information on preventative measures, including good hand hygiene. Start4Life also provides this messaging through its social media channels.