BBC World Service 2024-25

Public Accounts Committee Open Inquiry
Opened: 30 Jul 2025 Parliament page
Globally, the BBC World Service, which aims to reflect the UK, its culture and values to the world, had a weekly audience of 320m in 2023-24. Since 2022, the BBC has reduced expenditure on the BBC World Service, in part driven by falling licence fee income, with savings plans announced … Read more
7 Recommendations
20 Conclusions
1 Report
1 Oral session
2 Letters
1 Event
Activity timeline 4 events
29 Jun
2026
Correspondence
13 Mar
2026
Report published
26 Jan
2026
Correspondence
8 Jan
2026
Oral evidence
Oral evidence sessions 1 session
8 Jan 2026
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Fiona Crack · BBC World Service Jonathan Munro · BBC Tim Davie CBE · BBC
Title HC No. Published Items Response
72nd Report - BBC World Service HC 1299 13 Mar 2026 27 Response document linked
Recommendations & Conclusions
27 results
2 Recommendation
72nd Report - BBC World Service
The BBC struggles to articulate how the World Service provides value for money to UK...
The BBC struggles to articulate how the World Service provides value for money to UK taxpayers and why it should therefore continue receiving government funding. The Committee recognises the World Service’s importance amid volatile geopolitics and the rapid growth of … Read more
HM Treasury
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3 Recommendation
72nd Report - BBC World Service
Weaknesses in the BBC’s approach to the World Service’s digital transformation have meant it has...
Weaknesses in the BBC’s approach to the World Service’s digital transformation have meant it has struggled to migrate its audiences from traditional TV and radio services to digital platforms. Over the period 2021–22 to 2024–25, the World Service’s digital audiences … Read more
HM Treasury
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4 Recommendation
72nd Report - BBC World Service
The BBC’s ability to carry out long-term planning of the World Service is hampered by...
The BBC’s ability to carry out long-term planning of the World Service is hampered by repeated short-term funding agreements from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). Since 2021–22, the FCDO has provided around 30% of funding for the BBC … Read more
HM Treasury
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5 Recommendation
72nd Report - BBC World Service
The BBC World Service’s poor documentation means that the BBC cannot explain why it made...
The BBC World Service’s poor documentation means that the BBC cannot explain why it made key decisions and has hindered their ability to learn lessons going forwards. From 2021–22, the BBC has implemented three savings plans for the World Service … Read more
HM Treasury
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6 Recommendation
72nd Report - BBC World Service
The BBC’s lack of adequate monitoring of the World Service meant it was unable to...
The BBC’s lack of adequate monitoring of the World Service meant it was unable to assess its performance when implementing savings programmes. The BBC’s monitoring of its World Service savings programmes to date has focused primarily on financial metrics – … Read more
HM Treasury
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1 Conclusion
72nd Report - BBC World Service
On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence...
On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence from the British Broadcasting Company (the BBC) on the BBC World Services’ planning and implementation of its savings programmes since 2022.1
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7 Conclusion
72nd Report - BBC World Service
The BBC told us the World Service trust score remained broadly stable at about 78%...
The BBC told us the World Service trust score remained broadly stable at about 78% over the period 2021 to 2025, while reported trust in the Chinese state broadcaster rose from 62% to 70% and in the Russian state broadcaster … Read more
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8 Conclusion
72nd Report - BBC World Service
Whistleblowing concerns, particularly about BBC Arabic’s phase-one restructuring, led the BBC Whistleblowing team to find...
Whistleblowing concerns, particularly about BBC Arabic’s phase-one restructuring, led the BBC Whistleblowing team to find insufficient documentation and analysis for key decisions; the Service addressed these recommendations inconsistently and with delays.14 More broadly, governance and responsiveness were weak, including governance … Read more
HM Treasury
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9 Conclusion
72nd Report - BBC World Service
In February 2025, the BBC announced its move to a new international governance model and...
In February 2025, the BBC announced its move to a new international governance model and we asked the BBC about progress with its new international structure. The BBC told us that only one of six regional director roles was permanently … Read more
HM Treasury
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10 Conclusion
72nd Report - BBC World Service
Funded by the licence fee and FCDO grant-in-aid, total BBC World Service funding has fallen...
Funded by the licence fee and FCDO grant-in-aid, total BBC World Service funding has fallen 21% in real terms over the period 2021–22 to 2025–26. In response to falling real-terms funding, the Service has been implementing its savings programmes since … Read more
HM Treasury
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11 Conclusion
72nd Report - BBC World Service
We asked the BBC how it proves value for money and whether it has compelling...
We asked the BBC how it proves value for money and whether it has compelling metrics to demonstrate this to the FCDO.23 The BBC told us that the World Service currently cost around 87 pence per user per year as … Read more
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12 Conclusion
72nd Report - BBC World Service
Some language services serve smaller or harder to reach audiences, often in countries where media...
Some language services serve smaller or harder to reach audiences, often in countries where media freedom is low and reliable news is difficult to access, therefore their reach is lower and they can appear higher-cost on simple cost per user … Read more
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13 Conclusion
72nd Report - BBC World Service
In May 2022, the BBC announced its intention to move from traditional broadcast radio and...
In May 2022, the BBC announced its intention to move from traditional broadcast radio and TV outputs to online platforms as part of digital-first strategy. The strategy aimed to migrate audiences from closed TV and radio services to BBC websites … Read more
HM Treasury
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14 Conclusion
72nd Report - BBC World Service
Performance varied widely across services.
Performance varied widely across services. Language services that became digital-only in 2022–23 saw overall audiences fall by 63% and their digital audiences by 39%, while services that closed either radio or TV but retained the other declined by less. Within … Read more
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15 Conclusion
72nd Report - BBC World Service
Beyond a high-level digital strategy, the BBC did not set detailed language-service targets or define...
Beyond a high-level digital strategy, the BBC did not set detailed language-service targets or define “what good looks like” for each market. Estimates of audience impacts lacked timeframes, and the BBC did not track whether broadcast users were switching by … Read more
HM Treasury
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16 Conclusion
72nd Report - BBC World Service
The BBC told us that digital-first meant prioritising online delivery on both BBC owned services...
The BBC told us that digital-first meant prioritising online delivery on both BBC owned services and major third party platforms, and said confusion arose where teams still produced for radio or TV alongside digital output. The BBC explained that it … Read more
HM Treasury
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17 Conclusion
72nd Report - BBC World Service
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) have provided around a quarter of the BBC...
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) have provided around a quarter of the BBC World Service’s funding since it restarted funding in 2016–17. In return for this funding, the BBC must ensure that the World Service meets certain requirements … Read more
HM Treasury
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18 Conclusion
72nd Report - BBC World Service
Since 2016–17 the FCDO has set out its funding for the World Service for between...
Since 2016–17 the FCDO has set out its funding for the World Service for between one and four years at a time, as well as providing additional funding for specific purposes, such as additional coverage of the Russia- Ukraine conflict. … Read more
HM Treasury
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19 Conclusion
72nd Report - BBC World Service
The BBC told us that its ability to effectively carry out long-term budgeting and strategy...
The BBC told us that its ability to effectively carry out long-term budgeting and strategy planning is hampered by the FCDO’s funding approach. For example, the BBC noted that, at the time of our evidence session on 8 January, it … Read more
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20 Conclusion
72nd Report - BBC World Service
We asked the BBC what it would do if it were to receive the funding...
We asked the BBC what it would do if it were to receive the funding settlement it requested from the FCDO. The BBC told us that it was grateful that the FCDO had increased funding by £30 million in 2025–26 … Read more
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21 Conclusion
72nd Report - BBC World Service
In response to real-terms reductions in World Service funding, the BBC has implemented three savings...
In response to real-terms reductions in World Service funding, the BBC has implemented three savings programmes since 2022 which cumulatively aimed to save £54.2 million by March 2026.42 The BBC has made savings to date through a variety of measures … Read more
HM Treasury
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22 Conclusion
72nd Report - BBC World Service
The BBC explained that it considered a range of factors when deciding which TV and...
The BBC explained that it considered a range of factors when deciding which TV and radio outputs to close. This included factors such as: a. The reach and share of different markets. b. The digital maturity of different markets – … Read more
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23 Conclusion
72nd Report - BBC World Service
The BBC accepted, however, the NAO’s finding that the rationale behind decisions on which individual...
The BBC accepted, however, the NAO’s finding that the rationale behind decisions on which individual language services should be closed was not clear enough and that there was insufficient supporting documentation. The BBC acknowledged that some of the decisions it … Read more
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24 Recommendation
72nd Report - BBC World Service
The BBC explained that it planned to make refinements to its processes based on the...
The BBC explained that it planned to make refinements to its processes based on the NAO’s findings to ensure that it is better able to look back on decisions it has made and make a clearer assessment of what did … Read more
HM Treasury
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25 Conclusion
72nd Report - BBC World Service
The BBC did not put in place effective monitoring of its BBC World Service savings...
The BBC did not put in place effective monitoring of its BBC World Service savings programmes. The BBC set clear financial targets for its savings programmes, however, the complexity of its finance systems meant that it could not track savings … Read more
HM Treasury
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26 Conclusion
72nd Report - BBC World Service
The BBC acknowledged that its tracking of financial metrics, outputs and outcomes of the World...
The BBC acknowledged that its tracking of financial metrics, outputs and outcomes of the World Service savings programmes need to be improved in future.51 The BBC explained that its ability to project manage the implementation of the World Service savings … Read more
HM Treasury
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27 Recommendation
72nd Report - BBC World Service
We asked the BBC to provide detail on the changes it was making to improve...
We asked the BBC to provide detail on the changes it was making to improve its monitoring of the World Service’s savings programmes. The BBC told us that it had introduced a new monthly system for tracking finances which brings … Read more
HM Treasury
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Correspondence 2 letters
29 Jun 2026 To committee Letter from the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Multilateral, Human Rights, Latin America and the Caribbean relating to steps the FCDO is taking to improve conditions for journalists working in hostile environments, 4 June 2026
Parliament page
26 Jan 2026 To committee Letter from the Global Director of BBC News relating to the Committee’s evidence session on 08 January 2026 on BBC World Service 2024–25, 21 January 2026
Parliament page