Appendix 1: Response from
the BBC
BBC World Service funding
We welcome the undertaking by the
Director of News at the BBC to maintain the budget for the World
Service up until the end of the current licence fee period, and
his assurance that the next two years of funding will use the
2014-15 budget as a baseline. We urge the BBC to announce detailed
funding allocations for 2015-16 and 2016-17 as soon as possible,
to enable not just the World Service but also other divisions
of the BBC to plan over the longer term. (Paragraph 7)
BBC response
The BBC intends to be a worthy steward
of the World Service. As the Committee noted, budgets have been
increased - up by £6.5m in 2014/15 compared to the 2013/14
budget set by HMG - at a time when the BBC is facing serious budgetary
pressures. This exceptional treatment is not only a measure of
the BBC's commitment to the World Service, but also its ambitions
for it. Divisional budgets across the BBC are set annually
in the second half of the financial year. Planning for 2015-16
is ongoing, and figures have not yet been finalised.
Governance
We have clear differences with the
BBC on governance of the World Service. We respect the arguments
made by the Director of News in defence of the new arrangements,
but it remains to be seen whether they will indeed safeguard the
distinct nature of the World Service. We regret that the BBC has
moved from a position where the Director of the World Service
was a very senior person within the organisation to one where
the World Service has no direct voice on the Executive Board or
the Management Board, and where the Director is just one of many
competing voices on the News Group Board which will take decisions
on how the World Service should meet its objectives and targets
under the Operating Licence. We do not depart from the reservations
which we have expressed in the past about the transfer of funding
responsibility and the consequential changes in governance, and
we recommend that the BBC should at least allow for direct representation
of the World Service at the Management Board—and preferably
the Executive Board—on a temporary basis, for five years,
while the new funding arrangements for the World Service settle.
(Paragraph 16)
BBC response
BBC World Service is now represented
directly on the Executive Board and in the Executive Management
Team by the Director of News. He is the Executive Director
responsible for the performance of the World Service. This
will ensure the World Service does not become isolated or an adjunct
within BBC News, but will be front and centre of BBC efforts.
It means the BBC is not duplicating management, nor creating
separate bureaucratic structures, but focusing on how best to
serve audiences by sharing both information about stories as well
as innovation in technology.
The role of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office
We will continue to speak up for
the BBC World Service and its role in projecting the values and
interests of the UK across the world. We urge the Foreign Secretary
to do the same. We are encouraged to hear that frequent contact
between the BBC and the FCO is likely to continue. We were pleased
to hear the Foreign Secretary say that he would always "hold
the BBC's feet to the fire" in protecting the interests of
the World Service. We urge him and his successors to honour that
commitment. (Paragraph 21)
BBC response
The BBC's Director General has stated
his aspiration to invest in the World Service and to double the
BBC's global reach. Under the new arrangements the Foreign
Secretary and the BBC Trust still have to agree the languages
in which the World Service broadcasts, as well as agreeing the
objectives, priorities and targets for the World Service. The
Chair of the BBC Trust and the Foreign Secretary will meet on
an annual basis. The BBC welcomes the Committee's commitment to
continue to speak up for the World Service in terms of its soft
power contribution. The new funding arrangements show that the
World Service is clearly independent and separate from Government
which will enhance respect for it around the world.
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