[Met Office request email] 
Mr A Montford 
 
Direct tel:  +44(0)870 900 0100 
Request-14742-
 
Direct fax:  +44(0)870 900 5050 
[email address] 
   
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
   
 
 
 
 
Our ref:   21-07-2009-145432-003                                     20 August 2009                                                      
 
 
 
 
Dear Mr Montford 
  
Re: Freedom of Information request 
 
Your emails dated 14 July 2009 and 17 August 2009 have been considered to be a request 
for information in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000.  
 
Your question:  “Further to my recent enquiry regarding CRUTEM station data, firstly thank-
you for your prompt reply.  Could you please send me a copy of the agreement/letter with Dr 
Jones in which he makes these restrictions on redistribution of the data.” 
 
The Met Office does not hold this information because no written agreement exists.  The Met 
Office received data from Professor Jones on the proviso that it would not be released to any 
other source.  This proviso is based upon a verbal arrangement and a practice which has 
been adhered to since the early 1980s.  We understand from Professor Jones that such an 
arrangement is necessary because the various organisations contributing to the work of the 
Climatic Research Unit have imposed restrictions upon the use and disclosure of their 
specific data.  Please see the Climatic Research Unit’s website at 
http://www.cru.uea.ac.uk/cru/data/availability/ for further information in this regard.   
 
We are corresponding with the Climatic Research Unit to determine whether it can make 
further data available subject to obtaining all necessary permissions from the rights holders. 
 
I hope this answers your enquiry. 
 
The information supplied to you continues to be protected by the Copyright, Designs and 
Patents Act 1988 (the Act).  Unless specifically permitted by the Act, any reproduction of the 
information, in whole or in part, requires the permission of the copyright holder. Most 
documents supplied by the Ministry of Defence will have been produced by government 
officials and will be Crown Copyright. You can find details on the arrangements for re-using 
Crown Copyright from the Office of Public Sector Information at: http://www.opsi.gov.uk/click-
use/index.htm
 
Information you receive may also include third party owned information. Such information 
must not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without first obtaining the permission of any such 
third party rights holder. 
 

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If you are not satisfied with this response or you wish to complain about any aspect of the 
handling of your request, then you should contact me in the first instance. If informal 
resolution is not possible and you are still dissatisfied then you may apply for an independent 
internal review by contacting the Head of Corporate Information, 6th Floor, MOD Main 
Building, Whitehall, SW1A 2HB (e-mail [email address]). Please note that any request for 
an internal review must be made within 40 working days of the date on which the attempt to 
reach informal resolution has come to an end. 
 
If you remain dissatisfied following an internal review, you may take your complaint to the 
Information Commissioner under the provisions of Section 50 of the Freedom of Information 
Act. Please note that the Information Commissioner will not investigate your case until the 
MOD internal review process has been completed. Further details of the role and powers of 
the Information Commissioner can be found on the Commissioner's website, 
http://www.ico.gov.uk. 
 
Yours sincerely,  
 
 
 
FOI Manager               
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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