Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 21
21
In response to real-terms reductions in World Service funding, the BBC has implemented three savings...
Conclusion
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 including the closure of Radio outputs in 13 languages and TV outputs in six languages.43 The BBC estimates these closures directly led to a fall in average weekly audiences of 30 million. Despite the importance of these decisions, the BBC did not clearly document how it ultimately made decisions, including which TV and radio outputs should be closed. This means that it is not possible to evaluate how decisions were ultimately made, or whether a clear and consistent rationale was applied across different regions.44