Prof Andrew Watkinson, Director of the Living With Environmental Change Programme, said:

"Climate science is under intense scrutiny as a result of recent events. I welcome the appointment of Lord Oxburgh to chair a distinguished panel to evaluate the quality of science that has emerged from CRU. The panel members are all distinguished scientists with relevant expertise, but sufficiently divorced from recent controversies in this area."

Bob Ward, policy and communications director at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, said:

"The members of the panel that will be carrying out the assessment of the publications by the Climatic Research Unit have world-class reputations for their work. Nevertheless, we will now see predictable attempts by so-called 'sceptics' to discredit the panel before it has even started work so that its findings can be conveniently dismissed unless it hands a propaganda goal to those who promote denial and complacency about the causes and consequences of climate change. Bloggers will trawl through every statement ever made by the panel members in an effort to show that they are biased because they do not subscribe to the same ideologies as 'sceptics'.

"But nobody should be in doubt that this is a high-quality panel of individuals who have demonstrated both their authority and integrity."

Prof Bob Watson, Chief Scientific Adviser to DEFRA, said:

"As Defra CSA I strongly support the choice of chair and panel members - all world class - and the terms of reference. This should lead to a critical evaluation of the quality of the CRU science."