Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether he expects the trial to compare universal screening for Group B Strep carriage in late pregnancy with usual risk-based care to be completed in advance of UK National Screening Committee's guidance review on Group B Strep in 2019-20.

Mr Philip Dunne, Minister of State for Health: The trial to compare universal screening for Group B Streptococcus (GBS) carriage in late pregnancy with usual risk-based care is not expected to be complete until the end of 2021 at the earliest. We anticipate that the UK National Screening Committee’s scheduled tri-annual review on GBS will not commence until the findings of the trial are known.

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