The committee advises ministers and the National Health Service in all four countries of the UK, and is accountable to the four Chief Medical Officers.
[1] The committee was established in 1996, with Sir Kenneth Calman (Chief Medical Officer for England 1991–1998) as its first chairman.
Professor Sir Mike Richards (an oncologist, formerly National Cancer Director and Chief Inspector of Hospitals) has held the post since April 2022.
[2] The committee maintains a list of policies in relation to various types of screening, and attempts to balance the risks against the benefits in each case.
According to the BioEdge website: "Invasive screening methods, either amniocentesis or chorionic villus sampling, result in a miscarriage in 1 out of every 100 tests.