Written question asked by Andrew Selous (Conservative) on Tuesday, 13 December 2011, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 19 December 2011. It was answered by Anne Milton (Conservative) on Monday, 19 December 2011 on behalf of the Department of Health.

Streptococcus

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what information his Department has collected on the effect of introducing group B streptococcus screening on levels of infection in babies in (a) the US, (b) Canada, (c) Australia, (d) France, (e) Italy, (f) Spain and (g) other countries.

Answer: The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) advises Ministers and the national health service in all four countries about all aspects of screening policy and supports implementation. Using research evidence, pilot programmes and economic evaluation, it assesses the evidence for programmes against a set of internationally recognised criteria.As the UK NSC advise the Department on screening policy for group B streptococcus (GBS) in pregnancy the Department does not collect or hold data on GBS screening centrally.

Secondary information