Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of a statement on the <i>Guardian</i> website on 31 October that an article on the approval of non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) had to be amended to correct a statement that the Nuffield Council on Bioethics had confirmed in July that no new ethical issues were raised by NIPT, what statements the Department of Health made to the <i>Guardian</i> or its reporters which led the <i>Guardian</i> to that understanding; whether the Department of Health understood this to be the case at the time of those statements; and if so, why.

The decision to accept the UK National Screening Committee’s (UK NSC) recommendation of the non-invasive prenatal testing was formally communicated as a matter of public record via the Guardian and Press Association, and subsequently reported by several media organisations, this is usual practice.

Following subsequent conversations with the Nuffield Council on Bioethics, an agreement was made to amend statements made to reflect their preferred wording. The Department did not contact the Guardian to amend this article.