Professor Peter Stott:

The BBC has recently issued guidelines on communication around climate change. I cannot speak for the BBC but I understand that there is a clear understanding that it is not productive to have someone saying things that are scientifically not correct. I have some experience of this myself. Lord Lawson was on the BBC "Today" programme where he said things to the effect that global warming had stopped. I was on the "Today" programme the next day to correct that statement and state that that was not the case. With the new guidance that has come out very recently, the BBC has recognised that it is not productive to have such a non-debate because the established fact is that climate is changing and that there is a relationship to human emissions.

The Met Office has a wide remit to advise Government on a range of issues relating to climate change. We take opportunities whenever we can and wherever it is appropriate to communicate to the press. For instance, during the recent heatwave there was considerable interest in the media and I was interviewed for the 10 o'clock news on the BBC by David Shukman to talk about the heatwave and how it was linked to climate change. That remit is seen in the context of a general remit to communicate our findings to the British public, and it is in that spirit. We try to do this in a way that is scientifically informative and to be available when asked. We try to bring our latest science to that. The Met Office often produces briefing notes and we provide information when there are particular weather events or there are particular issues on which this scientific information would be useful. We try to do that at those moments. The BBC is one means by which we can communicate this but there are others such as newspapers, online, and social media.

There are other means by which that can be communicated as well.