Meteorological Office (Hansard, 22 February 1993)

§ Mr. Aitken

These are matters delegated to the Meteorological Office under the terms of the framework document. I have therefore asked the chief executive to reply directly to the hon. Member.

Letter from Professor Julian Hunt to Mr. Nick Ainger, dated 22 February 1993:

Dear Mr. Ainger

I am responding to your two written Parliamentary Questions.

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(1) To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, for which of its services to the public the Meterological Office charges a fee directly to the user. The Met Office provides services to the public in a variety of ways. Some services, such as severe weather warnings and a range of basic forecast scripts, are provided free of charge to the broadcasting media. Other television, radio and newspaper services (the majority) are provided on a commercial basis to the media companies, but are received by the user—the public—at no direct cost. Only services offered directly to the public are charged directly. For example, Weathercall is a premium-rated telephone service run jointly by the Met Office and a private firm. Through its network of Weather Centres the Met Office provides weather forecasts for each of 27 areas around the UK, updated three times a day. Revenue from the calls is shared between the line provider (normally British Telecom) and the service providers. A similar service, called Marinecall, is provided for leisure yachtsmen, giving weather forecasts for 15 inshore areas and two sea areas around the United Kingdom. Services for mountain walkers, skiers and holiday makers (Mountaincall, Skicall and International Weathercall respectively) are also offered. Over the past year, the Met Office has extended the premium-rated approach to dial-in fax services. MetFAX offers a range of products, designed for yachtsmen, general aviation and schools. A version for the general public, corresponding to Weathercall, is planned for later this year. Finally, the public can make use of special telephone numbers at Weather Centres and speak directly to forecasters, for which a subscription charge and a charge per call is made. However this service, together with a large range of more tailored services, is aimed more at specific markets, such as agriculture, building and the offshore industry, rather than the general public. (2) To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what income the Meteorological Office has generated from answering public enquiries about the United Kingdom inshore weather forecast in each year since it began charging for the service. The Met Office provides an inshore waters forecast for the United Kingdom twice daily to the BBC free of charge as part of the Office's Public Meteorological Service. The forecasts are broadcast on Radio 3 in the morning and Radio 4 in the evening. In addition, a premium-rated telephone service (Marinecall) is available. The Marinecall service comprises 15 inshore areas, a national UK inshore and two sea area forecasts (for the English Channel and the southern North Sea). Forecasts are updated twice daily from our network of Weather Centres—for example the forecasts for St. David's Head to Hartland Point and for St. David's Head to Colwyn Bay are provided from Cardiff Weather Centre. The service began in 1986, earning revenue as follows:

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	£
1986–87	32,000
1987–88	82,000
1988–89	128,000
1989–90	213,000
1990–91	242,000
1991–92	240,000
¹1992–93	194,000
¹ 10 months to date.