FOI Request on MSM Blood Ban - Part Two

Strangely it is almost 9 months since I first sent a Freedom of Information request on this issue. I received two responses the first telling me that the Department of Health, Social Services and Pensions would not be able to respond to me within the required deadline. The second that as the Minister had yet to made a decision on the issue that they could not disclose any information to me at that point.

Well it appears that for the second time, the first is here, Edwin Poots has made a decision.

Therefore it was time to raise a new request both because my deadline for comeback to the previous response had passed and because there was new Information that needed to be requested.

Here is my new request:

 Retention of MSM Lifetime Blood Ban

Dear Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety
(Northern Ireland),

Further to my previous request, your ref FOI 2011/140

I understand that the Minster has now come to a decision which your
previous response, of 15 November, told me you could not disclose
information until he had come to one.

Therefore I'm writing to you under the Freedom of Information Act
2000 requesting:

1. For minutes of any meetings that the Minister has had pertaining
to the SaBTO report "Donation selection criteria review - men who
have had sex with men" 8-Sep-11

2. For details of any information that the Minister has received
that conflicts with or supports the quantitative and qualitative
substance of the above report. Especially that of the two pieces of
the evidence that the Minister announced on 17-Jun-12 that he had
received in recent weeks.

3. Minutes of any meetings the Minister has had with professionals
in the health and LGBT fields, since receiving this new
information, regarding their contents.

4. Minutes of any meetings or information that the Minister has had
regarding people who have had sex with prostitutes or someone from
Africa that has led to his conclusion to lift their 12 month
deferral period for blood donations to a lifetime ban.

5. The number of meetings or conversations that the Minister has
had regarding their positions and actions on MSM blood donations
with his counterparts in:
a) Westminster
b) Edinburgh
c) Cardiff
d) Dublin
both before these two new pieces of evidence arose and since.

6. Minutes of any meetings or information that the Minister has had
regarding as yet undiscovered or undisclosed blood borne diseases
that the Minister alluded to on 22-Sep-11.

Yours faithfully,

Stephen Glenn

I look forward to finding out how information received in the last couple of weeks can be so startling that it makes up the Minister's mind that has been contemplating SaBTO's very thorough report for over 9 months so rapidly. Not just for my sake but for all the men who have had sex with other men.