Four weeks ago we posted a blog piece about the lack of response of Theresa May, Home Secretary, to our letter containing FOI requests on MGM. Public bodies are required to respond to FOI requests within 20 working days, and 20 further working days – four calendar weeks – have elapsed since the deadline of 21 September. We’ve emailed the Home Office FOI team each week about the response being overdue, and had no explanation from them.

Ms May appears to be struggling with our perfectly simple FOI requests, despite MGM being unquestionably illegal:

Given that MGM demonstrably results in bodily harm, and often mental harm, on what grounds are the police declining to press charges against those carrying out the operations?

Regardless of those grounds, will the government commit publicly to introducing legislation in this parliamentary term (i.e. before May 2020) to make non-therapeutic circumcision of male minors illegal?

With the benefit of hindsight, we should have made the deadline for introducing legislation much earlier. That apart, we look forward to Ms May’s response.