Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the timescale is for the UK National Screening Committee Group B Streptococcus review; when the public consultation on that review will open and close; and when he expects the committee to make a decision on the outcomes of that review.

In December 2015 the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) commissioned an update review into antenatal screening for Group B Streptococcus (GBS) as per its published process. A public consultation is expected to be held in late 2016 for a three-month period; the UK NSC will then review the recommendation for GBS at the successive meeting.