Re: Met Office privatisation??

On 23 Nov, 15:37, "Dave Cornwell"
<davemccignoret...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
"Martin Rowley" <booty.weatherREM...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message

news:ZMdWk.15682$bA3.2274@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

... this has been mooted before, several times. However, this time there
is more of a 'head of steam' against the 'public services', 'index-linked
pensions' etc., and the Treasury does need money!

There is nothing 'sacrosanct' about meteorology remaining in the state
sector. It was an accident of history that the Meteorological Office
(originally Department) started out as a part of the Board of Trade and
developed, through two World Wars & other changes, to the organisation we
know now. In the days when to make weather services work, you needed
complicated (and costly) telecommunications structures, huge number of
staff (operational & support) and inter-governmental agreements etc., it
made sense for 'nation to speak to nation' via a state-owned service. You
could argue it is not needed now, or at least not in the same way.

After all, who would have thought, 20 years ago, that the national
electricity and gas grids would be in private hands? Certainly not me. You
can argue that this is not a good thing (I would incidentally), but the
system is obviously working - the lights haven't yet gone out.

The provision of services to the 'general public' (i.e. the Public Weather
Service, NSWWS, specific targetted services such as Highways Agency &
equivalents in Scotland), could be provided by the private sector. We've
moved a long way from 'private weather' being someone forecasting for a
few pigeon fanciers from a shed at the bottom of the garden. The modern
commercial weather companies are well organised and efficient. After all,
the Met Office itself provides commercial services for users *outside* the
UK.

It will be down to the economics: will a sale produce enough money for the
Treasury to offset the re-organisation required in provision of the Public
Weather Service? We're at a tipping-point - the commercial weather sector
is now much more sophisticated than previously, and could take up the
requirements: the military are already served by a 'nested' weather
service within the Met Office, and could easily be detached. But is there
someone out there who wants to take this on in the current cash-strapped
climate?

One word of caution though: this story comes from the Murdoch stable -
they have an agenda & they have run this story before.

One question that may come up though: in this country, we've got two major
NWP computing centres: Exeter & Shinfield. The former is wholly supported
by the taxpayer, the latter is funded with a generous slice of the same
taxpayer's funds! Food for thought.

Martin.

--
Martin Rowley
West Moors, East Dorset (UK): 17m (56ft) amsl
Lat: 50.82N   Long: 01.88W
NGR: SU 082 023

------------------
Yes, I remember those terrible days of nationalised inefficient services.
Thankfully we now have a brilliant rail network, cheap energy bills brought
about by the wonders of free market competition, lovely new clean airports
just to mention a few of the benefits. ;-)
Dave



I don't think that we have anything to fear from privatisation of the
Met Office in the sense of improved or worse forecasts. I don't
believe there is a sizable number of unemployed experienced
forecasters out there who will leap in and work for less money. The
forecasters who do the job now would continue but there is a huge
scope for reducing 'other' Met Office staff - those who are not
forecasters. Wonderful administrators and diversity officers they may
be, but they do not generate any significant income. One obvious route
would be for the Met Office to keep its' forecasters in the Public
Sector and everything else that the Met Office does would be done as
private companies who would buy the basic forecasts and tailor them
for whoever wants to buy. I suspect that what will happen is that the
Government will spend millions on consultants who will eventually
report that privatisation of the Met Office is not viable and that it
should be left in the Public Sector.
.

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