Following on from my previous upbeat and optimistic update about the delivery of this petition to the Department of Health, it is with great sadness, frustration and anger that I now write again to explain the response. We received what I can only describe as a derisory three-page letter from the Minister for Health Philip Dunne MP, which you can read here: http://gbss.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/2017_02_24-Philip-Dunne-to-Jane-Plumb-re-GBS-Petition.pdf. As you can see, it completely fails to acknowledge the tragedy that gave rise to our campaign and the hundreds of thousands of people who have supported it; people whom those running the Department of Health are appointed to serve and take account of. The letter does not refer to ANY action that will be taken to address the need for testing and information about GBS within the NHS, or even any further consideration or debate that will occur because of the petition. It merely sets out standard paragraph after standard paragraph of existing studies and reviews, and points to sources of information that would be completely unknown to virtually all pregnant women in the UK. That Mr Dunne states that “information for pregnant women on the risks of GBS” can be found by searching for “risks of GBS in pregnancy” in response to a petition that points out that a large part of the problem is that women are not even informed about the existence of GBS within the NHS is, frankly, as insulting as it is oblivious. It would be laughable were it not showing such a dangerous ignorance of this key factor in the fight to save babies like Edward and avoid the heartache and anxiety for hundreds of families affected by GBS. The closing statement that Mr Dunne hopes the “current activity in this area demonstrates the Government is doing all it can to prevent stillbirths and devastating neonatal infections such as GBS” falls shockingly short of the mark. I find it horrifying to think that the Minister for Health actually believes that. The overriding message of this letter for me is that the Government consider that the current situation is acceptable – that we must wait for the outcomes of initiatives already underway, and simply accept that in the meantime increasing numbers of babies like Edward will suffer and die from group B Strep infections that could have been prevented. Please help make it clear that this is not acceptable by writing to your MP and telling them how disappointed you feel by the response to the petition, and ask them to write to Philip Dunne requesting he meet with Group B Strep Support and with Scott and me as a matter of urgency. Many thanks for your ongoing support. Fiona