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Science in the Met Office: Government Response to the Committee's Thirteenth Report of Session 2010–12

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Science in the Met Office: Government Response to the Committee's Thirteenth Report of Session 2010–12 House of Commons Science and Technology Committee Science in the Met Office: Government Response to the Committee's Thirteenth Report of Session 2010–12 First Special Report of Session 2012–13 Ordered by the House of Commons to be printed 23 May 2012 HC 162 Published on 25 May 2012 by authority of the House of Commons London: The Stationery Office Limited £0.00 Science and Technology Committee The Science and Technology Committee is appointed by the House of Commons to examine the expenditure, administration and policy of the Government Office for Science and associated public bodies. Current membership Andrew Miller (Labour, Ellesmere Port and Neston) (Chair) Caroline Dinenage (Conservative, Gosport) Gareth Johnson (Conservative, Dartford) Stephen Metcalfe (Conservative, South Basildon and East Thurrock) Stephen Mosley (Conservative, City of Chester) Pamela Nash (Labour, Airdrie and Shotts) Sarah Newton (Conservative, Truro and Falmouth) Jonathan Reynolds (Labour/Co-operative, Stalybridge and Hyde) Graham Stringer (Labour, Blackley and Broughton) Hywel Williams (Plaid Cymru, Arfon) Roger Williams (Liberal Democrat, Brecon and Radnorshire) The following members were also members of the committee during the parliament: Gavin Barwell (Conservative, Croydon Central) Gregg McClymont (Labour, Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East) Stephen McPartland (Conservative, Stevenage) David Morris (Conservative, Morecambe and Lunesdale) Powers The Committee is one of the departmental Select Committees, the powers of which are set out in House of Commons Standing Orders, principally in SO No.152. These are available on the Internet via www.parliament.uk Publications The Reports and evidence of the Committee are published by The Stationery Office by Order of the House. All publications of the Committee (including press notices) are on the Internet at http://www.parliament.uk/science. A list of reports from the Committee in this Parliament is included at the back of this volume. The Reports of the Committee, the formal minutes relating to that report, oral evidence taken and some or all written evidence are available in printed volume(s). Additional written evidence may be published on the internet only. Committee staff The current staff of the Committee are: Dr Stephen McGinness (Clerk); Dr Farrah Bhatti (Committee Specialist); Xameerah Malik (Committee Specialist); Darren Hackett (Senior Committee Assistant); Julie Storey (Committee Assistant); Henry Ayi-Hyde (Committee Office Assistant); and Nick Davies (Media Officer). Contacts All correspondence should be addressed to the Clerk of the Science and Technology Committee, Committee Office, 7 Millbank, London SW1P 3JA. The telephone number for general inquiries is: 020 7219 2793; the Committee’s e- mail address is: [email protected]. Government Response to the Committee's Thirteenth Report of Session 2010–12 1 First Special Report On 21 February 2012 the Science and Technology Committee published its Thirteenth Report of Session 2010–12, Science in the Met Office [HC 1538]. On 27 April 2012 the Committee received a memorandum from the Government which contained a response to the Report. The memorandum is published as appendix to this Report. Appendix: Government response The Government welcomes the Science and Technology Committee’s report on Science in the Met Office and the Committee’s positive assessment that the Met Office is a world- leading institution underpinned by robust science. The free at point of use forecasts and warnings the Met Office provide are trusted by the nation and enable people to make informed decisions. In times of hazardous weather the Met Office’s warnings enable the resilience community to prepare and respond, helping to protect life, property and critical national infrastructure and reduce economic impacts. The UK is a leader in climate science research and modelling and the Met Office through the Met Office Hadley Centre is the focal point of this UK capability. Government has a core strategic requirement for climate advice and information and values the service provided by the Met Office. The Government welcomes the collaborative approach the Met Office is taking to providing services and the role it plays in pulling through investment in science for the benefit of the UK. The Met Office will continue to strive to build upon this excellent foundation. Further advances will come from continued scientific research coupled with terrestrial and satellite observation networks and high performance supercomputing. The Government recognises the benefits which come from taking a strategic approach to the provision of services and will seek to ensure a sustainable future for Met Office science. Responses to specific conclusions and recommendations from the Committee are provided below. Ownership 1. We welcome the Minister’s comment that the Government has no plans to privatise the Met Office and agree with him that it would be deeply irresponsible to do so on the grounds of the need to fill a hole in the Government’s coffers. As the Committee points out, there is no current intention to privatise the Met Office. The Government does however, expect the Met Office to develop its commercial services and this could involve private sector partners. 2 Government Response to the Committee's Thirteenth Report of Session 2010–12 2. We consider it too early to comment in detail on the Met Office’s move from the Ministry of Defence (MOD) to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS). However, we welcome the potential for closer links between the Met Office and the research base, as well as the opportunity for the Met Office to develop its commercial activities further. The Met Office’s world class weather forecasting and climate services are a practical example of how knowledge supports growth. As the Committee highlights, the move of the Met Office to BIS will enhance the Met Office’s already flourishing partnerships with the UK’s research and innovation infrastructure helping to deliver even greater benefit from the UK’s investment in science. There will also be new opportunities for collaboration with key directorates. The Met Office is part of the wider science family, both in the UK and internationally. It has a world-leading, in-house Research & Development capability, and collaborates strongly with the UK Research Base. The Met Office, for example, has a close working relationship with the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). Through the Joint Weather and Climate Research Programme, NERC and the Met Office collaborate to address critical gaps in the existing national portfolio of weather and climate research and pull through NERC science into operational use and innovative products and services. Currently, NERC is actively working with the Met Office on new approaches to provide the environmental services needed by the nation to support resilience and growth. Examples include collaboration in the Natural Hazards Partnership1 which provides round-the-clock, trusted services and advice to the resilience community, and the emerging Environmental Science to Service Partnership2, which aims to harness the nation’s investment in environmental science to the benefit of society, business and government. In addition, the Met Office’s move to BIS, along with Ordnance Survey and Land Registry marked a significant step towards establishing a Public Data Group (PDG). This brings together a number of organisations, providing an opportunity to align the way they manage and release public data for use and re-use. The Government believes this is the best way to realise the social and economic value generated by the use and re-use of core reference data. The creation of the Data Strategy Board (DSB), the main customer of the PDG, will help government have a more consistent and joined up voice in terms of their needs for data and services from the Met Office. Contracts and Customer Relationships 3. As a matter of urgency, the Government should ensure that its Customer Service Agreements (CSAs) with the Met Office are signed and that these CSAs are truly multi- year agreements. Furthermore, we recommend that the Government sets out its minimum funding commitment to the Met Office for each year of the current Spending Review period by the end of this financial year. 1 Other BIS agencies which are members of this partnership are the UK Space Agency and Ordnance Survey 2 Ordnance Survey are also a member of this partnership and NERC is represented through the British Geological Survey and the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology. Government Response to the Committee's Thirteenth Report of Session 2010–12 3 The Government recognises that there are benefits that can arise from multi-year agreements. Taking Met Office work with Ministry of Defence (MOD) as an example, having the ability to look further forward would enable the Met Office to contribute to strategic initiatives associated with the development of the Joint Force Command structure and the broader development of Geospatial Information and Intelligence. Similarly, it will also allow planning to respond to Strategic Defence and Security Review, Planning Round measures and the post 2014 drawdown in Afghanistan while delivering efficiencies and maintaining service outputs. The ability to ensure change processes can be implemented without impacting on the daily defence support requirement must be maintained however. MOD will look at the options for multi-year agreements with the Met Office as a means to provide more certainty on funding levels. The Public Weather Service (PWS) CSA is in the process of being updated and re-signed to capture the Departmental change from MOD to BIS. The CSA price has been agreed up to the end of the Spending Review period (2014/15) and includes an indicative price for 2015/16. As stated in the DSB terms of reference, the DSB will provide expert advice to ministers for subsequent Spending Review negotiations. To this end the DSB will work with central government to ensure the current and new contracts between them and members of the PDG maximise the value for government and provide value for money.
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