Asked by: Lord Jopling (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Duncan of Springbank on 14 January (HL222), why the Public Weather Service Customer Group's targets each year for the accuracy of forecasts do not include rainfall.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Met Office measures the accuracy of its rainfall forecasts by comparing forecast rainfall accumulation against rainfall estimates from radar and actual rainfall measurements from gauges. The Met Office reports on the accuracy of rainfall forecasts to the Public Weather Service Customer Group (PWSCG). Since 2017, the PWSCG has included verification of the forecast weather symbol as part of this formal forecast accuracy target. This measures how accurate the forecast was in terms of whether it was sunny, cloudy or raining. Since its introduction, this metric has shown that the accuracy of the forecast weather symbol has improved at all forecast time scales.
Asked by: Lord Jopling (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how they monitor the accuracy of weather forecasts issued by the Meteorological Office; and whether the accuracy of forecasts has (1) increased, (2) decreased, or (3) remained the same during the last five years.
Answered by Lord Duncan of Springbank
The core task of the Met Office is to deliver the Public Weather Service (PWS). The PWS Customer Group (PWSCG), which has an independent chair responsible to the Minister of State for Universities, Science, Research and Innovation, monitors the delivery of the PWS against agreed performance indicators and targets, including the accuracy of public facing forecasts.
Over the last 5 years, the PWSCG has set targets each year for the accuracy of forecasts for maximum and minimum temperature, 3 hourly temperature, wind speed and wind direction at days 1, 3, and 5 ahead. During this period the accuracy of all these forecasts has increased.
In addition, the Met Office has a performance indicator that compares the accuracy of its global forecast model against other global modelling centres to demonstrate that it is maintaining its position in global forecast accuracy. Over the last 5 years the Met Office has maintained its position as the leading national meteorological service.
Asked by: Lord Jopling (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Price on 10 May (HL8062), whether that answer assumes that the United States Congress will accept a "fast-track" procedure for ratifying the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership; and what assessment they have made of the likelihood of such a procedure being either endorsed or withdrawn by the new Congress in 2017.
Answered by Lord Price
Legislation to re-authorise Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) – sometimes called “fast track” – the Bipartisan Congressional Trade Priorities and Accountability Act of 2015, was signed into law by President Obama on 29 June 2015. It will apply to certain international trade agreements – including the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership – if agreement is reached before 1 July 2018.