Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Conclusion 17
72nd Report - BBC World Service
Published 13 Mar 2026
Addressed to HM Treasury
Public Accounts Committee BBC World Service 2024-25 All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
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 including being unable to close entire language services without agreement from the Foreign Secretary and the agreement of annual objectives, priorities and targets against which the BBC must report each year.35
From: Public Accounts Committee, 72nd Report - BBC World Service (HC 1299), 13 March 2026
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 1 June 2026 (deadline 13 May 2026).