Science in the Met Office

Book excerpt: The Met Office currently operates as a Trading Fund within the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS). The Committee welcomes the move to BIS, particularly given the potential for closer links with the research base and the opportunity to develop further its commercial activities. Core services though for the public service must be maintained. The Met Office generates a significant proportion of its revenues from Government contracts and Customer Service Agreements, in addition to its' commercial services and the Government should provide clearly defined funding commitments. This would allow the Met Office to take a longer-term perspective on scientific and operational development. The Government has no plans to privatise the Met Office, which the Committee saw as putting at risk the strong partnerships built with international partners and the sharing of crucial meteorological data. Also the Committee welcomes the Government's initiative of Public Data Corporation. Some concern though is expressed that scientific advances in weather forecasting and the associated public benefits (particularly in regard to severe weather warnings) are available but are being held back by insufficient supercomputing capacity. The Met Office should attempt to streamline the scrutiny of science under one committee and develop a strong customer relationship with key government departments.