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PPARC Welcomes Outcome Of Prior Options Review Of Royal Observatories

April 25, 1996

Professor Ken Pounds, Chief Executive of the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (PPARC), today welcomed the announcement by Minister for Science and Technology, Ian Taylor accepting the recommendations of the Steering Committee of the review of the Royal Observatories.

Professor Pounds said, "I am pleased that the Minister has positively endorsed our Council's strategy. We can now find the most effective way of managing the operation and development of the ground-based facilities, which represent a crucial element of the UK's long-term astronomy programme. We must identify, evaluate and implement new organisational arrangements, consistent with the Prior Options report, as quickly as possible".

The principal recommendations of the Steering Committee's report, endorsed by the Minister and PPARC were:

that PPARC should retain ownership of the telescopes on Hawaii and La Palma, and seek through competitive tender, to contract managing organisations to operate them on behalf of the Council and its international partners;

that PPARC should invite tenders for the provision, under contract to PPARC, of services, including the procurement of instrumentation and technical support currently provided by the Royal Observatories' UK sites - the Royal Greenwich Observatory and the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh.

Copies of the report are available from;                 Mr Lawrence Garry,
                                                 Office of Science and Technology,
                                                 Telephone:        0171 - 271 - 2042

NOTES FOR EDITORS

1.        The Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (PPARC), is the UK Government funded body providing support for basic science research in its areas of interest covering elementary particles and the forces of Nature; planetary and solar research, including space physics; astronomy, astrophysics and cosmology. The Council provides its researchers with access to world-class facilities in the UK and overseas, through its own establishments the Royal Observatories, and by membership of major international bodies such as the European Laboratory for Particle Physics, CERN, and the European Space Agency, ESA. The PPARC pays the UK Government subscription to the science programmes of CERN and ESA whilst funding UK academic groups researching and constructing instrumentation for these and other bilateral agreements. The Government allocated funding of about £200 million to PPARC for the year 1995/96.

2.        The Royal Observatories consist of the Royal Greenwich Observatory at Cambridge; the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh; the Isaac Newton Group of telescopes on La Palma; and the Joint Astronomy Centre on Hawaii. The primary role of the Observatories is to provide observing facilities and access to data for UK astronomers.

3.        The Prior Options Review Steering Committee, chaired by Professor Ian Halliday, was set up in July 1995 to;

establish what programme functions, falling within the current remit of the Royal Observatories, need to be carried out in pursuit of the mission of the PPARC,
set out the range of options open to the PPARC in securing the delivery of those programme functions,
establish criteria against which the options will be assessed, including feasibility and cost-effectiveness in delivery, and the mechanisms whereby the assessments will be,
assess the options against the specified criteria,
recommend an appropriate way forward to the PPARC Council and, through Council, to the President of the Board of Trade, no later than 22 December 1995.

Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (PPARC)

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