To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what progress the Meteorological Office has made with its programme of upgrades to radar sites. [110386]
The Met Office has carried out all the upgrades that were announced in its Scientific and Technical review 2001–02. These have been implemented throughout the United Kingdom radar network sites and are already delivering the expected benefits in terms of operational reliability and efficiency.In addition, the Met Office now has plans for some further improvements to follow on from the upgrades mentioned above. These include improving the data retrieval techniques and improved data handling. This will result in increased accuracy and reduction in false alarms. Multiple beam operations will be introduced, which will allow the Met Office to more reliably detect weather systems, despite the interruption caused by, for example, mountains blocking the path of the radar beam.The Met Office are also working closely with the Environment Agency to determine the technology that might be employed for the next generation of weather
| Outward secondments financial year 1997–98 | ||||
| Band/Grade | Parent company or organisation | Secondment location (where known) | Start date | End date |
| B2 | Babtie Group | Scotland | April 1997 | October 1998 |
| SCS | GEC Marine | North West | June 1997 | June 1998 |
| B1 | AWE plc | South | November 1997 | November 1999 |
| C1 | Centre for Defence Studies | London | May 1997 | November 1999 |
| B2 | Northern Development Company | North East | July 1997 | July 2000 |
| C2 (IT) | Bull Information Systems | West | September 1997 | September 2000 |
| CO2 | Bull Information Systems | West | September 1997 | September 2000 |
| CO2 | Bull Information Systems | West | September 1997 | September 2000 |
| C2(IT) | Bull information Systems | West | September 1997 | — |
| CO3 | Bull Information Systems | West | September 1997 | — |
| B2 | Horizon IJVC Ltd./VSEL | London | September 1997 | September 1999 |
| SCS | Thompson Marconi Sonar | West | November 1997 | November 1999 |
| B2 | Northern Development Company | North East | September 1997 | On-going |
| D (Temp) | Opps. for People with Disabilities | West | October 1997 | April 1999 |
| COS | Bull Information Systems | West | October 1997 | October 2000 |
| D(IT) | PSYBT | Scotland | October 1997 | October 1999 |
| B (Temp) | Business in the Community (Opps2000) | London | October 1997 | February 2000 |
| C1 (IT) | British Airways | London | December 1997 | March 2000 |
| C1 | Thompson Marconi Sonar | South | December 1997 | December 1999 |
| B2 | BAES | South | March 1998 | May 2000 |
| B1 | Rolls Royce & Assoc | West | March 1998 | March 2000 |
| B2 | Princes Youth Business Trust | South | November 1997 | November 2000 |
| C2 | PSYBT | Scotland | November 1997 | November 1997 |
radars. There are opportunities to employ new techniques that can potentially identify both the quantity and the type of precipitation, which will lead to further improvements in accuracy in forecasting potential floods and other consequences of severe weather.
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether the Meteorological Office intends to establish a new weather radar station to serve the south-east of Scotland and north-west of Scotland areas. [110385]
Current weather radar coverage in Scotland is provided by three radars, one situated just south of Glasgow, one near Aberdeen and one on the Isle of Lewis.The Met Office is in discussion with the Scottish Executive and a windfarm developer over plans to site a windfarm around the Glasgow radar. Were the windfarm to go ahead it would unacceptably compromise the performance of the radar and negate its contribution to the severe weather service for Scotland. A potential solution being considered includes removal of the current Glasgow radar installation and the construction of two new radar sites to maintain coverage of the south-east of Scotland area.