The department's Start4life campaign provides advice to pregnant women on establishing healthy habits to give their babies the best start in life and reduce the risk of poor health in life. As part of this campaign, the department has recently launched a new leaflet that includes information on alcohol and the reasons why it is best avoided in pregnancy.

On 18 May 2012, the Government launched the National Health Service Information Service for Parents. This new, free digital service for parents provides regular NHS and other quality assured advice for both mothers and fathers on staying healthy in pregnancy, preparing for birth and looking after their baby, and includes advice on risks of drinking during pregnancy.

The emails, videos and text messages include content from NHS Choices, the Pregnancy and Baby Guide and the online Birth to Five Guide along with videos showing health professionals demonstrating practical advice and parents discussing their own experiences.

Since May, 85,000 parents have signed up to the service.

The Government are also committed to improving the labelling of alcoholic drinks, which would help make people more aware of how much alcohol they are drinking, what the guidelines are and what the risks are, including for those who are pregnant.

As, part of the Public Health Responsibility Deal, alcohol retailers and producers have a responsibility to raise this awareness for those who drink and have committed to putting this information or the pregnancy warning logo, on 80% of labels on shelf by 2013.

The Department has not commissioned or evaluated any research on public opinion on routine screening of pregnant women for Group B Streptococcus (GBS) carriage; or the acceptability of receiving antibiotics during labour to prevent the transmission of GBS from mother to baby.

The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) published a revised Green-Top guideline on the prevention of early-onset neonatal GBS disease on 18 July 2012. The National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) published a new guideline on antibiotics for the prevention and treatment of early-onset neonatal infection, including GBS on 22 August 2012.

The Department has not commissioned or evaluated any research on public opinion on routine screening of pregnant women for Group B Streptococcus (GBS) carriage; or the acceptability of receiving antibiotics during labour to prevent the transmission of GBS from mother to baby.

The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) published a revised Green-Top guideline on the prevention of early-onset neonatal GBS disease on 18 July 2012. The National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) published a new guideline on antibiotics for the prevention and treatment of early-onset neonatal infection, including GBS on 22 August 2012.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has not recommended any drugs specifically for the treatment of pregnant women susceptible to convulsive fits.

Epilepsy is one of the main causes of convulsive fits. An updated clinical guideline on the diagnosis and management of epilepsy in adults (including pregnant women) and children in primary and secondary care which includes recommendations on the use of anti-epileptic drugs was published by NICE on 25 January 2012.

The Department has not had any formal discussions with hospital trusts regarding the dose of vitamin D pregnant women should receive.

The UK Chief Medical Officers (CMOs) wrote to health professionals on 2 February 2012 to raise awareness of the importance of vitamin D and to reiterate the current advice from UK Health Departments that those groups of people who are at risk of vitamin D deficiency, including pregnant women and young children, should take a daily vitamin D supplement to prevent vitamin D deficiency.

The CMOs' letter specifically stated that all pregnant and breastfeeding women should take a daily supplement containing 10 micrograms (400 IU) of vitamin D. The NHS London Medicines Information Service has compiled a list of vitamin D supplements that will provide the amounts of vitamin D recommended by the Department for different age groups. This list is available on the National Electronic Library for Medicines website and was also sent to pharmacy organisations in March 2012.

As part of the Government's Healthy Start scheme, vouchers that can be exchanged for free vitamin supplements containing the recommended amounts of vitamin D are provided to pregnant women and families with children under four years of age in very low income and disadvantaged families. All pregnant women under 18 years old also qualify for the scheme, even if they do not receive any of the benefits or tax credits listed in the eligibility criteria.

UK Health Departments advise that most people, including young girls over the age of five years, should be able to get all the vitamin D they need via exposure to summer sunlight and eating a healthy balanced diet.

The national guidelines for prevention of early onset neonatal group B streptococcus disease are developed to set the standards for high quality health care. The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists published on 18 July 2012 the revised Green-Top guideline, originally published in November 2003, to take into account new evidence on the prevention of early-onset neonatal group B streptococcus (GBS) disease. In addition, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) published a new guideline on antibiotics for the prevention and treatment of early-onset neonatal infection, including GBS on 22 August 2012.

The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) advises Ministers and the national health service in all four United Kingdom countries about all aspects of screening policy, including screening policy for GBS carriage in pregnancy. In 2008-09, the UK NSC recommended that a national screening programme to test for GBS carriage in pregnancy using the enriched culture medium test should not be offered. The UK NSC is currently reviewing the evidence for screening for GBS carriage in pregnancy against its criteria again.

The UK NSC held a public consultation on its screening review from 16 July 2012 to 23 October 2012. In total, 212 written responses were received. The UK NSC will consider all of the submissions made during the consultation at its 13 November 2012 meeting. All consultation replies will be available on the UK NSC’s website following the meeting apart from those where stakeholder organisations or individuals have requested that their response is not made public. The Department expects to receive a recommendation from the UK NSC shortly.

A meeting between the former Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health, my hon. Friend the Member for Guildford (Anne Milton), and officials took place on 10 January 2012 to discuss screening for GBS carriage in pregnancy. The former Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health also hosted a meeting to discuss the UK NSC’s antenatal screening for GBS carriage review on 24 January 2012. Attendees included the UK NSC, the charity Group B Strep Support and Members of Parliament.

The national guidelines for prevention of early onset neonatal group B streptococcus disease are developed to set the standards for high quality health care. The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists published on 18 July 2012 the revised Green-Top guideline, originally published in November 2003, to take into account new evidence on the prevention of early-onset neonatal group B streptococcus (GBS) disease. In addition, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) published a new guideline on antibiotics for the prevention and treatment of early-onset neonatal infection, including GBS on 22 August 2012.

The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) advises Ministers and the national health service in all four United Kingdom countries about all aspects of screening policy, including screening policy for GBS carriage in pregnancy. In 2008-09, the UK NSC recommended that a national screening programme to test for GBS carriage in pregnancy using the enriched culture medium test should not be offered. The UK NSC is currently reviewing the evidence for screening for GBS carriage in pregnancy against its criteria again.

The UK NSC held a public consultation on its screening review from 16 July 2012 to 23 October 2012. In total, 212 written responses were received. The UK NSC will consider all of the submissions made during the consultation at its 13 November 2012 meeting. All consultation replies will be available on the UK NSC’s website following the meeting apart from those where stakeholder organisations or individuals have requested that their response is not made public. The Department expects to receive a recommendation from the UK NSC shortly.

A meeting between the former Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health, my hon. Friend the Member for Guildford (Anne Milton), and officials took place on 10 January 2012 to discuss screening for GBS carriage in pregnancy. The former Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health also hosted a meeting to discuss the UK NSC’s antenatal screening for GBS carriage review on 24 January 2012. Attendees included the UK NSC, the charity Group B Strep Support and Members of Parliament.

The Government's framework for improving sexual health in England, including reducing unwanted and unplanned pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections, will be set out in the sexual health policy document, which we plan to publish by the end of this year.

The Department has received a number of representations about the decision not to proceed with a consultation on pregnancy options counselling. I also held a meeting on 5 November with Lord Alton, Lady O'Loan, my hon. Friend the Member for Congleton (Fiona Bruce), Lord Brenna and Dan Boucher at which pregnancy options counselling was discussed.

The Government believes that the best way to meet the commitment to improve counselling services for women is to look at wider issues on preventing unwanted pregnancies and consider counselling requirements in this context. We will therefore set out our plans for improving counselling in our sexual health policy document which we aim to publish before the end of the year.

The Department incurred costs in respect of travel and subsistence expenses for officials' visits to organisations currently providing pregnancy counselling services. In addition the work of a number of Departmental

staff was reprioritised to focus on the development of proposals on pregnancy counselling, but we have not separately identified costs associated with this work.

Departmental Ministers attended a number of meetings at which pregnancy options counselling was discussed. These meetings included meetings of the cross-party group of hon. Members set up by the former Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Public Health, my hon. Friend the Member for Guildford (Anne Milton), which met on 2 December 2011, 12 December 2011, 18 January 2012 and 20 February 2012. The former Minister also had meetings with officials on 28 March and 26 June 2012.

The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists Standards for Maternity Care (published in 2008) states that all women who have a significant drug and/or alcohol problem should receive their care from a specialist multi-agency team, which will include a specialist midwife and/or obstetrician involving social workers and health visitors.

Data on the number of mothers giving birth to babies showing neonatal withdrawal symptoms is not available, as it is not possible to link birth records with delivery records. We are therefore unable to say whether a mother has had more than one delivery where the baby has neonatal withdrawal symptoms. However, data on the number of babies born with neonatal withdrawal symptoms from the Health and Social Care Information Centre, is provided in the following table.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence issued guidance for medical and health care professionals on "Pregnancy and complex social factors" in September 2010. This guidance seeks to identify the service organisation and delivery that would best encourage access, contact and use of services by substance misusing women, describing what additional consultation and support is needed.

Data on the number of babies born with neonatal withdrawal symptoms from maternal use of illicit or therapeutic drugs are collected, but are not broken down by type of drug. Data for the last five years for which information is available are given in the following table.