Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Answer of 15 January 2024 to Question 8936 on Streptococcus: Screening, when he expects to receive the response of the UK National Screening Committee's findings on the outcome of the Group B Streptococcus trials.

The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) funded the GBS3 trial. It is looking at whether testing all pregnant women for Group B Streptococcus and giving them antibiotics reduces the risk of infection in newborn babies, compared to the current strategy in place in the United Kingdom. The current strategy in the UK is to offer antibiotics during labour to women who are considered at raised risk of their baby developing a Group B Streptococcus infection.

Recruitment to the trial ended in May 2024. The researchers are analysing the data, and a report is expected in Summer 2025. The UK National Screening Committee Secretariat is in close and regular contact with the researchers. The committee will review its recommendation considering the evidence from the trial, after the report is presented.