Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how the take-up of advice given on National Health Service websites about preventing spina bifida is currently monitored.

Information on high risk groups suffering neural tube defects at birth is not collected centrally.

There are no current mechanisms in place for monitoring the take-up of advice given on the NHS Choices website about preventing spina bifida.

The British Isles Network of Congenital Anomaly Registers (BINOCAR) collects information about the mother and child, including postcode of residence, mother’s age, pregnancy length, pregnancy outcome, when and how the anomaly was identified and the details of each anomaly.

Information on congenital abnormalities including spina bifida, hydrocephalus and anencephaly is collected by the British Isles Network of Congenital Anomaly Registers. Data is currently available for 2009–2012.

The following table shows the number of live births for years 2009-2012

In line with National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines, health professionals use appropriate opportunities to advise all women who may become pregnant that they can most easily reduce the risk of having a baby with a neural tube defect by taking folic acid supplements. This information is also available on the NHS Choices website.

The Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) was, however, commissioned to provide advice to government on the impact of folic acid fortification to improve the folate status of women and therefore reduce the number of pregnancies affected by neural tube defects. This built on previous advice from SACN’s predecessor the Committee on Medical Aspects of Food and Nutrition Policy in 2000. The Government is currently considering the recommendations that SACN made alongside other information sources, including the latest folate status data and expects to make an announcement on this in due course.