Select Committee on Foreign Affairs Minutes of Evidence


Letter to Mr David Laws MP from Lord Triesman, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

  Thank you for your letter of 23 November to Jack Straw on behalf of your constituent, Michael Fox . . . expressing concern about the BBC World Service. I am replying as Minister responsible for Public Diplomacy.

  The BBC World Service has recently carried out a significant re-structuring exercise. This involved re-examination of the reach and impact of all 43 of its language services. This resulted in a decision, announced on 25 October, to close 11 low impact radio services. The resources freed will be reinvested on new priorities, including online services and Arabic TV. I attach a World Service press release that provides further information.[1] 1

  Mr Fox expresses concern about the internal impact of these changes. Although BBC World Service is funded by grant-in-aid, I should stress that it does have complete editorial and managerial independence from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. However, I can confirm that the World Service is confident that the changes, including some job losses, will not affect the quality of its output.

  Mr Fox also refers to Arabic TV. As the Director of the World Service has made clear, Arabic TV is the result of recommendations made by the World Service itself. Arabic is the World Service's "senior" service. Arabic was the first non-English offering on radio and, many years later, the first non-English online service. The Middle East market has always been a high priority for the World Service. The World Service is confident that it can launch a high quality 12-hour TV service, as part of a tri-media offering in Arabic by utilising the resources at its disposal. Polling evidence has suggested that a 12-hour service would attract a significant audience. I believe that reprioritisation announced by the World Service is the right move at the right time.

David Triesman

The Lord Triesman of Tottenham






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