Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that people with Down’s syndrome do not feel discriminated against as a result of the introduction of non-invasive prenatal testing for Down’s syndrome.

Ministers held a series of stakeholder meetings in March 2017 to listen to the concerns of charity groups and other stakeholders, including The Nuffield Council on Bioethics to discuss their report on the ethics of non invasive prenatal tests (NIPT).

Public Health England, is working with a range of stakeholders including the Down’s Syndrome Association, Support Organisation for Trisomy 13/18, the Down Syndrome Research Foundation and Antenatal Results and Choices, to update and develop information for expectant parents and information and training for healthcare professionals, in preparation for the roll out of NIPT as an additional option in the National Health Service Fetal Anomaly Screening Programme in England.