Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Conclusion 19
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 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 did not yet have its funding settlement from the FCDO for the new financial year starting in April.37 The BBC explained that although it was able to manage the risk associated with uncertain funding 35 C&AG’s Report, paras 1.10-1.11, 2.4, Figure 4 36 C&AG’s Report, para 1.13, Figure 6 37 Q 5 13 levels through planning for different scenarios, shorter lead times lead to a lower quality of decision making.38 However, the BBC was optimistic that its next settlement from the FCDO would be for a longer-term settlement.39
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).