Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it is policy to provide routine testing for Group B Streptococcus for all pregnant ladies.

Following the United Kingdom National Screening Committee’s (UK NSC’s) meeting in February 2017, the Department accepted the UK NSC’s recommendation that a population-based screening programme for Group B Streptococcus (GBS) carriage should not be offered. The UK NSC will review the evidence for screening once the National Institute of Health Research has published its findings from the clinical trial which compares universal screening for GBS with usual risk based case.