asked Her Majesty's Government:On which Department of State falls the responsibility for examining and reacting to the possibility that the average surface temperature of the earth may increase within the next hundred years.

The Meteorological Office of my department carries out research into the possibility of average surface temperatures rises. It plays a leading role in the World Meteorological Organisation's World Climate Research Programme, in which this problem is one of the main concerns. The Department of the Environment, which collaborates closely with the office, keeps a watch on measurements of the accumulation of trace gases in the atmosphere which it is thought might lead to such a warming, and is responsible for the representation of the United Kingdom interests in international discussions on the problem. Should positive evidence of a warming be forthcoming it would be for my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for the Environment to co-ordinate policy reaction to it.