Select committee: Public Accounts Committee

Recommendation 27

72nd Report - BBC World Service Published 13 Mar 2026 Addressed to HM Treasury
Recommendation (the committee's words)
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 key information, such as staff numbers and savings made, together in one place.53 However, the BBC told us that its World Service finance systems required investment as it depended on significant levels of staff manually entering data into spreadsheets.54 The BBC told us that it had also improved its tracking of non-financial metrics of the World Service savings programmes. It explained that it has implemented a new monthly performance review that reviews non-financial metrics and considers the impact of changes to inputs, such as reduced expenditure, on its outputs, such as its level of content, and its outcomes, such as levels of audience trust.55 51 Q 28 52 Q 19 53 Q 29 54 Q 6 55 Q 30 16

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).

Read the government's response ↗ Report an error