Freedom of information

Commitment

The Met Office is committed to openness and transparency in the conduct of its operations and to the sharing of information.

The Met Office fully supports the aims and objectives of Freedom of Information and is committed to making information available wherever feasible.

The Met Office, as part of the Ministry of Defence, will:

• Proactively publish and release information: through the MoD Publication Scheme for generally available information and, wherever possible, in response to specific questions.
• Help individuals to exercise their rights of access to their personal data: as set out in the Data Protection Act 1998.
• Deal with requests for information in a timely manner: the Met Office will treat all requests fairly and without prejudice taking into account the public interest in making accurate and timely information available wherever possible.
• Give clear explanations of decisions if information cannot be published or released
• Support the right to appeal: if dissatisfied with the response to a request, applicants have the right to appeal under the Met Office’s FOI Complaints Process.

Scope

This statement applies to all information held in Met Office, i.e. all the information created, received and maintained by staff of the Met Office in the course of their work.

Information charter

Our Information Charter explains our commitments on handling personal data.