Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of making cystic fibrosis checks routine in (a) antenatal care and (b) neonatal care.

The United Kingdom National Screening Committee (UK NSC) advises ministers and the National Health Service in the four UK countries about all aspects of screening and supports implementation of screening programmes. All screening programmes are introduced following a robust process using peer reviewed evidence that shows the benefits to screen clearly outweigh harm.

Earlier this year, the UK NSC looked at the evidence to offer population screening for cystic fibrosis (CF) in pregnancy and recommended that this should not be introduced. This is because screening during pregnancy would be difficult. Further, there is no new evidence to support screening. Ministers accepted this recommendation.

However, the NHS Newborn Blood spot Screening Programme screens for cystic fibrosis in newborn babies alongside eight other conditions. Newborn blood spot screening in England is offered between five and eight days after the baby is born.