7 BBC Monitoring
151. BBC Monitoring (BBCM), part of the BBC World
Service, provides a service of international news and comment
gathered from the mass media around the world. It supplies a range
of public and commercial bodies, including the security and intelligence
agencies, with recordings, transcripts and translations of foreign
broadcasts. In 2004-05, BBCM kept track of national and regional
developments across the world from the Middle East to Russia and
Ukraine.[233] For example,
the World Service told us how the BBCM had helped to unravel a
confused picture of events during the Beslan siege.[234]
152. BBCM's four main stakeholders are the FCO, the
BBC World Service, the Ministry of Defence and the Cabinet Office.
In 2004-05, the FCO contributed £7 million to the BBCM out
of its total funding that year of £22.1 million; the other
three stakeholders made up the balance.[235]
The FCO, as the largest contributor, has been the sponsoring department
for BBCM in Government.
153. As our predecessor Committee noted in its Report
on the FCO Departmental Report for 2003-04, the FCO carried out
a review of its funding of BBCM.[236]
In June 2004, the FCO wrote to the Committee to say that it planned
to reduce its contribution to BBCM by £2 million per annum.[237]
Sir Michael Jay explained that BBC Monitoring's overall funding
would, however, remain at its then current level as the difference
would be made up by the other stakeholders and from a BBC Monitoring
Reserve.[238] The Committee
concluded that,
[…] it is utterly perverse that the future
of BBC Monitoring should be placed in doubt at the very time when
its services are arguably most important to the country's security
and diplomatic needs, and when it is being almost universally
praised by its users. We recommend that BBC Monitoring be given
financial security by the FCO and its other stakeholders to ensure
its future.[239]
The Government responded that,
The quality of BBC Monitoring's output is not
in question. However, faced with the continuing pressures on resources,
the FCO has to determine which activities and products best contribute
to delivery of the Strategic priorities, as outlined in the FCO's
Strategy. This has meant tough decisions.[240]
The message could hardly have been clearer: BBCM
was no longer a priority for the FCO.
154. It is unlikely to have been a coincidence, then,
that in 2004 the Cabinet Office instituted a review of BBCM's
future funding.[241]
In July 2005 Dr Christopher Westcott, Director of BBC Monitoring,
wrote to inform us of its findings.[242]
The Review concluded that the partnership between the Government
and BBCM represented "excellent value for money" and
that it should be a "UK objective" to give BBCM stability
and confidence, to allow it to focus on maintaining an operation
that matches its customers' needs.[243]
The Review also recommended that BBCM move to a "ring-fenced"
funding arrangement, rather than receiving subscriptions from
stakeholders, and that its sponsoring department should be the
Cabinet Office, rather than the FCO.
155. It appears that BBCM's 'divorce' from the FCO
was less than amicable. According to Dr Westcott, at the outset
of the Review the FCO proposed a "non-negotiable" reduction
of £4.5 million in BBCM's funding.[244]
He went on to say that achieving the final financial agreement
took "considerable time and effort" by the reviewers
following "extensive discussions" with the stakeholders
and HM Treasury and that these discussions had been made difficult
by the FCO insistence that it reduce its funding of BBCM's by
more than twice the £2 million reduction it had originally
sought.
156. The Cabinet Office Review recommended an increase
in average funding for BBCM to £24.6 million per annum for
financial years 2006-07 to 2010-11, although ultimately the Treasury
agreed an average settlement of £23.8 million per annum over
the quinquennium.[245]
The first table below sets out BBCM's funding for 2003-04 to 2010-11,
and the second shows stakeholders' individual annual contributions
from 2006-07.
Cabinet Office funding review of BBC Monitoring[246]
Stakeholder financial contributions from
2006-07[247]
Notes:
1. In addition to stakeholder contributions in FYs
2006-07 and 2007-08 the Treasury has agreed to add £2.5 million
per annum to BBCM's funding from the Counter Terrorism Reserve,
making a total of £24.6m
2. From FY 2008-09 the Treasury will add £1.3
million per annum to BBCM's baseline funding
157. Nigel Chapman, Director of the BBC World Service,
told us that finally BBCM had been given a stable financial footing,
though he recognised that it faced challenges ahead.[248]
He added:
I think the stakeholders have also realised the
value to Britain of [BBCM's] services, and that allowing it to
wither on the vine, which was a fear many of us had, would have
been a very bad thing to have allowed to happen, and it is not
now going to happen.[249]
There will, however, be consequences from the reduction
in funding. Dr Westcott told us that as a consequence of the £0.8
million per annum shortfall from 2007 the loss of up to 80 posts
was likely to be necessary.[250]
158. When we took evidence from Sir Michael Jay we
of course asked about the FCO's reasons for reducing its funding
of BBC Monitoring. Sir Michael told us that although the FCO valued
the work of BBCM, he believed it had been paying too high a share
of the overall cost.[251]
He suggested that reducing its contribution to BBCM was one way
for the FCO to achieve its efficiency savings targets.[252]
We are not convinced that a transfer of responsibility from one
government department to another does, in fact, represent an efficiency
saving. We recommend that in its response to this Report the
FCO explain how the reduction in its funding of BBC Monitoring
has contributed to its efficiency savings targets; and whether
the Treasury has accepted this.
159. We conclude that it is reassuring that BBC
Monitoring has finally been given the financial stability it has
been seeking and we believe that this should enable it to plan
more strategically up to 2011. We also conclude that the quid
pro quo for this certainty should be a continuing drive by BBC
Monitoring to maximise its efficiency. We recommend that the FCO
and the other sponsoring departments maintain their close interest
in the operations of BBCM, to ensure that BBCM continues to offer
excellent value for money.
233 BBC World Service, Annual Review 2004-05,
June 2005 Back
234
Ev 99 Back
235
Foreign Affairs Committee, Eighth Report of Session 2003-04, Foreign
and Commonwealth Office Annual Report 2003-2004, HC 745, para
166; Ev 112 Back
236
Ibid, para 166 Back
237
Ibid; Ev112; Back
238
Ibid; Ev 112 Back
239
Foreign Affairs Committee, Eighth Report of Session 2003-04, Foreign
and Commonwealth Annual Report 2003-04, HC 745, para 165 Back
240
Foreign & Commonwealth Office, Government Response to the
Foreign Affairs Committee's Eighth Report: Foreign and Commonwealth
Office Annual Report 2003-04, Cm 6415, November 2004, p 13 Back
241
The review was carried out by Sir Quentin Thomas (a former senior
civil servant) and Sir David Omand (a former security and intelligence
co-ordinator). Back
242
Ev 99 Back
243
Ev 53 Back
244
Ev 53 Back
245
Ev 53 Back
246
Ev 53 Back
247
Ev 50 Back
248
To be printed with the Foreign Affairs Committee's forthcoming
report on Public Diplomacy, HC 903, Q 110. Back
249
Ibid, Q 110 Back
250
Ev 53 Back
251
Q 97 Back
252
Q98 Back
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