Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, to which publicly-funded bodies and organisations the Maritime and Coastguard Agency makes the shipping forecasts provided by the Met Office available.

All marine weather forecasts produced by the Met Office on behalf of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) are made freely available in the public domain. These marine weather services, of which the Shipping Forecast is one, are delivered to the MCA for broadcast by Her Majesty’s Coastguard (HMCG), but are also made publically available via the Met Office website, the BBC, and other media outlets.

The Shipping Forecast is made specifically available to the BBC for broadcast on Radio 4, but is also freely available on request to any public-funded body or organisation, subject to it being used appropriately, in its original form, and with acknowledgement of the Met Office and the MCA as the source.