The United Kingdom Government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic has been guided by the advice of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) with the sole purpose of minimising loss of life. The Government has published the scientific evidence relied on by SAGE which can be found online via GOV.UK.

The report by the Nuffield Council on Bioethics Ethical considerations in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic has not been formally considered or assessed by SAGE. However, individual contributors to SAGE may consider a range of evidence for their own work.

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.

At its 19 November 2015 meeting, the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) recommended that non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) for Down’s, Edwards’ and Patau’s syndromes should be introduced as an additional test into the NHS Fetal Anomaly Screening Programme as part of an evaluation. The UK NSC held a three month public consultation on the GOV.UK website before making its recommendation. At its meeting in November 2015, the UK NSC reviewed all the responses to the consultation, including the ethical concerns raised before making its recommendation.

The Nuffield Council on Bioethics (NCOB) subsequently convened a roundtable in January 2016 to discuss clinical, ethical, social, legal and policy issues raised by recent developments in wider non-invasive prenatal diagnosis, testing and screening. The meeting was attended by 31 people, including healthcare professionals, academic researchers, policy makers, representatives of charities and patient groups, as well as members and officers of the UK NSC, including its ethicist.

Following the roundtable, the NCOB set up a working group in March 2016 to consider the ethical issues that would be raised by introducing NIPT into the National Health Service antenatal screening programme.

The UK NSC formally considered the NCOB’s write up of the roundtable at its meeting on 15 June 2016. In accordance with its terms of reference and as part of the ongoing evaluation the UK NSC will consider any significant new peer reviewed evidence, so will consider the report from the NCOB alongside any other new evidence when it becomes available.

The Nuffield Council on Bioethics plans to publish the findings of its project on non-invasive prenatal testing in March 2017.

The Nuffield Council on Bioethics plans to publish the findings of its project on non-invasive prenatal testing in March 2017.