Recommendation 19

HM Government Acknowledged

We do not agree with the recommendation on ring-fencing British Council programming. The British Council’s work across the world plays a crucial role in supporting the ambitions of the IR and the IDS. In support of a more interconnected UK with the rest of the world, the British Council draws on its convening power and ability to build long lasting mutual relationships worldwide. The FCDO provides British Council with a block grant and does not ring fence sums for specific purposes. The British Council in Nigeria’s focus and programmes are aligned to HMG’s priorities in Nigeria. This is enabled through the close working relationship between the British Council and the British High Commission in country. The British Council Country Director is a member of the High Commission’s Senior Leadership Team and contributes to the mission’s planning and strategic review. In line with the IR, Nigeria is a strategic priority country for the British Council, including in Education, and British Council programming in Nigeria supports implementation of the IR and the new IDS. The ‘Connecting’ programme in Nigeria focuses on the growing Creative Economy sector and fashion, film and animation, connecting artists and creatives from the UK and Nigeria to build connections, capacity, livelihoods and prosperity. This is an example of how, through arts and culture, the British Council is championing the whole of the UK as an international creative powerhouse. In the education field, the Council promotes the excellence of the UK’s education sectors across the world and drives researchers and students to the UK. For example, through the Innovation for African Universities programme, UK/ Nigeria grant-funded partnerships have been established to support systemic change between a cohort of 20 institutions and organisations and will scale this initiative by working with and through the Nigerian government. The Innovation for African Universities programme was also designed and developed by the British Council as part of the Going Global Partnerships programme, to foster the culture of innovation and entrepreneurship within universities and facilitate the development of skills required to build industries, companies, products and services. The project is designed to support the development of Africa – UK University Partnerships that build institutional capacity for Higher Education engagement in entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystems in Nigeria and selected African countries. The UK Government strongly values the work of the BBC World Service in promoting our values globally through its independent and impartial broadcasting. The IR stated that the BBC’s foreign language services are part of what makes the UK a soft power superpower, and the FCDO has agreed to provide £95.84m to the World Service, through the World 2020 programme, for 2022–23. Yoruba, Igbo and Pidgin in Nigeria are amongst the 12 languages funded by the FCDO across the world, with a combined audience of 8.31m people weekly. Global Audience Measure (GAM) data for 2020/21 demonstrates that the BBC is the top-rated international broadcaster on trustworthiness, reliability and depth of coverage.