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Following on from the House of Commons Inquiry Investigating the Oceans the Inter-Agency Committee on Marine Science and Technology is being superseded by a new committee, The Marine Science Coordination Committee (MSCC). It is anticipated that the MSCC's Secretariat will be in place in early 2009 at which time this web site will be re-launched. In the interim period, this web site will not be updated and we therefore apologise for any errors contained therein.
An update on the new Marine Science Coordination Committee (MSCC)
The MSCC met for the first time on Thursday 17 July 2008. Six departments (Defra (chair), the Scottish Government, DfID, BERR, MOD, and DIUS) and nine agencies ( Met Office, UKHO, FRS, NERC, Cefas, AFBI, JNCC, EA and SEPA) were represented. It was agreed that the Committee's primary responsibilities are to develop and implement a Marine Science Strategy for the UK, and to improve UK marine science co-ordination. Under the MSCC's guidance the Secretariat will take the lead in developing both the Strategy and the Committee's five year business plan. The Secretariat will therefore play a key role and Defra has recently agreed to allocate a budget of £600k to cover costs over the first 18 months. The Committee took up NERC's offer for the IACMST Secretariat to form part of the new MSCC Secretariat. The MSCC will be establishing a number of working groups to help take forward the Committee's business, and these groups will involve wider stakeholder involvement. The minutes of the first meeting of the MSCC can be seen here.
