FCO Performance and Finances - Foreign Affairs Committee Contents


Written evidence from Dr Chris Westcott, Director BBC Monitoring

BBC MONITORING: ANNOUNCEMENT OF SPENDING CUTS IN RESPONSE TO THE OUTCOME OF THE OCTOBER 2010 COMPREHENSIVE SPENDING REVIEW

I am writing to let you know that BBC Monitoring is today announcing spending cuts and proposed post closures in response to the decision by the Cabinet Office, following last October's HM Government Comprehensive Spending Review, to cut £3 million per annum (18%) over two years from BBC Monitoring's grant of £23.2 million per annum. This follows a cut of £1.4 million by the Cabinet Office in April 2010.

In announcing the cuts to staff today, I will be saying that regrettably service cuts and post closures are inevitable given the scale of the cut in funding from the Cabinet Office and that we are now beginning a period of consultation with staff on our proposals.

BBC Monitoring proposes to cut £3 million per annum from its costs by closing 72 posts - about 16%. 18 new posts would be created.

BBC MONITORING FUNDING FROM THE CABINET OFFICE
FY 09/10FY 10/11 FY 11/12FY 12/13
£24.6 million£23.2 million £21.7 million£20.2 million

* Under the terms of the new BBC Licence Fee Agreement, BBC Monitoring will be funded by the licence fee from FY 13/14. Until then, the Agreement states that "The Government will continue to fund BBC Monitoring at CSR-agreed levels for 2011-12 and 2012-13"

BBC MONITORING: ROLE AND VALUE

BBC Monitoring supplies news, information, and comment gathered from open mass media sources around the world. It operates around the clock to monitor more than 3,000 radio, TV, press, internet and news agency sources. It then selects vital information; translating it into English from up to 100 languages from 150 countries, and delivering it online for immediacy and ease of access.

This extensive and growing range of sources enables BBC Monitoring to provide distinctive, authoritative and reliable information and analysis to its Stakeholders (the Cabinet Office, the Ministry of Defence, SIS, GCHQ, Security Service, Foreign and Commonwealth Office and BBC World Service) and customers including media organisations, universities, governments, embassies, multinational companies and charities around the world.

BBC MONITORING: IMPACT OF THE SPENDING CUTS

The cuts to editorial output have been designed to protect coverage of BBC Monitoring's top geographical and thematic priorities, such as Afghanistan, Iran, Russia, the Arab world, counter-terrorism and proliferation. However, there will undeniably be a significant impact on editorial output on lower priority countriesand themes, and the resilience, adaptability and responsiveness of BBC Monitoring's editorial operations.

The biggest impacts will be on coverage of Asia-Pacific, Western Europe and the Balkans, where BBC Monitoring's entire UK-based capability would be lost, to be partially replaced by a reduced international resource. BBC Monitoring will close its Belgrade office and reduce the number of staff in Nairobi. It will also be reducing staffing dedicated to reporting on international media developments, lower priority themes and media reaction to major news events.

BBC Monitoring is clear that it needs to continue to deliver quality services to all our Stakeholders and customers. Our aim is to maintain BBC Monitoring as a going concern; maintain its global capability; minimise the impact on our priority services; and continue to invest for the future.

Parliamentarians and their researchers have access to BBC Monitoring's products and services through the Library pages on the Parliamentary Intranet.

17January 2011



 
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Prepared 11 February 2011