APPENDIX 14
Letter dated 9 June 2000 from the Chairman
of the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee
Thank you for your letter of 18 May concerning
the inquiry of the Information Committee into the work of the
Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST).
As you might expect, the Committee has made
infrequent use of the services of POST as relatively few scientific
and technological matters fall within its remit. However, for
an inquiry last year, the Committee sought evidence from the Meteorological
Office on the possibility that global warming might enhance the
frequency of severe storms in Northern Ireland. It received a
highly technical submission from the Hadley Centre for Climate
Change (part of the Meteorological Office), of which, at the Committee's
request, POST promptly prepared an excellent non-technical digest.
The language of this formed the basis of the relevant paragraph
in the Committee's report.
The Committee found it very useful to have the
necessary expertise in-house.
Rt Hon Peter BrookeChairman
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