Annual Report and Accounts 2006/7 - CEDA Repository

02 03 Annual Report and Accounts 2006/7
Directors’ report
Introduction
In 1854, a small group of
meteorologists led by
Vice-Admiral Robert FitzRoy was
tasked by the Board of Trade to
provide information on the
weather and ocean currents to
mariners, so beginning the
history of the Met Office.
By 1914, separate meteorological units
had been created for the Armed Forces
and by 1920 we were part of the Air
Ministry. In 1964 we were integrated
into the Ministry of Defence (MoD)
where we remain an essential part of
its domestic and overseas operations.
But our status and remit have changed
considerably over the years — we
became an Executive Agency in 1990
and a Trading Fund in 1996, following
Statutory Instrument SI 1996/774.
153 years on, the Met Office has evolved
into one of the world’s leading authorities
on the weather and climate. Our key
public task is to provide the essential
information behind the weather bulletins
that many people watch, listen to or read
every day and to support the wider
priorities of Government and its agencies.
We still work to protect those for whom
the sea is a workplace or source of leisure,
including those in the oil exploration,
shipping and defence industries. As this
Annual Report and Accounts shows, our
remit now involves the provision of
essential meteorological data to many
other industry sectors such as aviation,
retail, utilities and transport. We were
delighted that in a 2006 survey funded by
Culture Online, part of the Department of
Culture, Media and Sport, the weather
was officially voted an icon of England.
We continue to develop new science and
services in response to key questions
about the weather and our changing
climate. Whilst climate change can sound
a long way off, we are already feeling its
impacts in our day-to-day weather. Even
in the moderate UK climate summers are
getting hotter, winters wetter, as clearly
illustrated by the monthly weather
summaries in this Annual Report and
Accounts.
While scientists at the Met Office Hadley
Centre continue to study the causes and
effects of climate change, our new
consultancy service informs different
customers and sectors of the likely risks
and opportunities it will bring so they can
act now to mitigate, adapt to or exploit
them. This year, for example, the Met Office
published several pioneering studies on
the impacts of climate change on the UK
energy industry and separately delivered
a major tea importer the ability to manage
risks to supply caused by seasonal
variability and the impacts of El Niño.
Today’s Met Office is a diverse
organisation in terms of what we do and
the people who do it. We are committed
to training and developing our staff to
ensure they are able to perform their jobs
to the best of their ability, which led to us
retaining the prestigious Investor in
People standard this year. We are also
committed to a policy of Equal
Opportunity. The only test we apply to
any selection process is the ability to do
the job. Our People Change Programme
launched this year seeks to improve the
recruitment, selection, advancement and
reward and recognition of all staff, while
making best use of their unique skills to
meet current and future demands. To
raise awareness of how we work together
within the Met Office we recently
introduced drama-based training on
diversity issues.
We have a constructive relationship with
the Trade Union, negotiating with
Prospect on pay and consulting on a
range of other staff-related issues,
including terms and conditions of
employment. The Met Office Functional
Whitley Committee and its subcommittees
provide more formal
mechanisms for consultation with staff.
We regard their health, safety and
welfare, and that of others working on
our behalf, to be of paramount
importance and employ a full-time Health
and Safety Officer to ensure that everyone
is fully aware of their responsibilities in
this regard.
To our staff and customers alike we must
offer confidence as well as care. It is our
job to make sure you have the right
information at the right time — from
helping you decide whether or not to
take an umbrella, to informing the
choices that will determine how and
where our climate changes and the
impacts it will have. We employ the right
people with the right skills who can offer
you excellence in weather and climate
forecasting, scientific consultancy and
customer service. The Met Office is an
enduring brand with a strong heritage,
widely recognised in the UK and overseas.
We will go on building a modern and
dynamic organisation that responds
swiftly to its customers’ changing needs
so that we, like the weather, remain an
icon of the nation.