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 Simon Burns (Conservative) on Monday, 19 December 2011 on behalf of the Department of Health.

Streptococcus

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what research his Department has commissioned on the benefits of group B streptococcus testing in pregnancy in the last five years.

Answer: The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Programme has funded the following studies during the last five years:"pre-natal screening and treatment strategies to prevent group B. streptococcal and other bacterial infections in early infancy: cost-effectiveness and expected value of information analyses; and""rapid testing for group B streptococcus during labour: a test accuracy study with evaluation of acceptability and cost-effectiveness."Reports of these studies can be found on the HTA website at:"www.hta.ac.uk/project/1473.asp"and"www.hta.ac.uk/project/1388.asp"

Secondary information