Appendix 2: Response from
the FCO
The Government welcomes the Report by
the Foreign Affairs Committee: The Future of the BBC World Service,
published on 28 March 2014. We welcome the Committee's work and
its continued interest in the BBC World Service.
This Paper sets out our response to
the Committee's third recommendation on: The role of the Foreign
and Commonwealth Office. The BBC are responding directly on
recommendations one and two.
The Committee's text is in bold and
the Government's response is in plain text.
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)
The Government welcomes the FAC's continued
interest in the work of the BBC World Service and its highly valued
and valuable role in projecting the values and interests of the
UK globally.
The World Service's huge contribution
to global awareness and opinion is unrivalled - as the world's
leading international radio broadcaster, providing reports and
analysis in English, and 28 other languages, and reaching a huge
global audience through many different platforms.
Recent reports, including the House
of Lords Soft Power Committee's Persuasion and Power in the Modern
World and the British Academy's The Art of Attraction Soft
Power and the UK's role in the world underline the importance
of the BBC World Service in promoting and projecting British values
and UK cultural diplomacy. The World Service's independence is
an important aspect of and distinct strength in doing this.
The FCO, DCMS, the BBC Trust and the
BBC World Service will continue to work together collaboratively,
including to help ensure the World Service continues to be recognised
as the world's most influential and respected international public
broadcaster.
In this respect, the Government is pleased
to confirm that the FCO and the BBC World Service are working
on a Memorandum of Understanding setting out how they will continue
to work together in the future.
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