Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
72nd Report - BBC World Service
Public Accounts Committee
HC 1299
Published 13 March 2026
Recommendations
3
Weaknesses in the BBC’s approach to the World Service’s digital transformation have meant it has...
Recommendation
Weaknesses in the BBC’s approach to the World Service’s digital transformation have meant it has struggled to migrate its audiences from traditional TV and radio services to digital platforms. Over the period 2021–22 to 2024–25, the World Service’s digital audiences …
Read more
HM Treasury
View Details →
6
The BBC’s lack of adequate monitoring of the World Service meant it was unable to...
Recommendation
The BBC’s lack of adequate monitoring of the World Service meant it was unable to assess its performance when implementing savings programmes. The BBC’s monitoring of its World Service savings programmes to date has focused primarily on financial metrics – …
Read more
HM Treasury
View Details →
Conclusions (25)
2
Conclusion
The BBC struggles to articulate how the World Service provides value for money to UK taxpayers and why it should therefore continue receiving government funding. The Committee recognises the World Service’s importance amid volatile geopolitics and the rapid growth of state-backed competitors that do not present impartial views, alongside the …
4
Conclusion
The BBC’s ability to carry out long-term planning of the World Service is hampered by repeated short-term funding agreements from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). Since 2021–22, the FCDO has provided around 30% of funding for the BBC World Service. It is therefore critical that FCDO funding is …
5
Conclusion
The BBC World Service’s poor documentation means that the BBC cannot explain why it made key decisions and has hindered their ability to learn lessons going forwards. From 2021–22, the BBC has implemented three savings plans for the World Service which aimed to save £54.2 million. As a result of …
1
Conclusion
On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence from the British Broadcasting Company (the BBC) on the BBC World Services’ planning and implementation of its savings programmes since 2022.1
7
Conclusion
The BBC told us the World Service trust score remained broadly stable at about 78% over the period 2021 to 2025, while reported trust in the Chinese state broadcaster rose from 62% to 70% and in the Russian state broadcaster from 59% to 71%.10 Survey analysis also shows that the …
8
Conclusion
Whistleblowing concerns, particularly about BBC Arabic’s phase-one restructuring, led the BBC Whistleblowing team to find insufficient documentation and analysis for key decisions; the Service addressed these recommendations inconsistently and with delays.14 More broadly, governance and responsiveness were weak, including governance structures having been set up late and underdeveloped planning and …
9
Conclusion
In February 2025, the BBC announced its move to a new international governance model and we asked the BBC about progress with its new international structure. The BBC told us that only one of six regional director roles was permanently filled at the time of our evidence session, with recruitment …
10
Conclusion
Funded by the licence fee and FCDO grant-in-aid, total BBC World Service funding has fallen 21% in real terms over the period 2021–22 to 2025–26. In response to falling real-terms funding, the Service has been implementing its savings programmes since 2022–23.19 This has contributed to a decrease in audience numbers …
11
Conclusion
We asked the BBC how it proves value for money and whether it has compelling metrics to demonstrate this to the FCDO.23 The BBC told us that the World Service currently cost around 87 pence per user per year as an indicator of efficiency.24 However, the BBC does not yet …
12
Conclusion
Some language services serve smaller or harder to reach audiences, often in countries where media freedom is low and reliable news is difficult to access, therefore their reach is lower and they can appear higher-cost on simple cost per user measures, yet they meet the highest need audiences.27 The BBC …
13
Conclusion
In May 2022, the BBC announced its intention to move from traditional broadcast radio and TV outputs to online platforms as part of digital-first strategy. The strategy aimed to migrate audiences from closed TV and radio services to BBC websites and social platforms so that reach could be sustained while …
14
Conclusion
Performance varied widely across services. Language services that became digital-only in 2022–23 saw overall audiences fall by 63% and their digital audiences by 39%, while services that closed either radio or TV but retained the other declined by less. Within the digital-only group, declines were concentrated in Nigerian language services, …
15
Conclusion
Beyond a high-level digital strategy, the BBC did not set detailed language-service targets or define “what good looks like” for each market. Estimates of audience impacts lacked timeframes, and the BBC did not track whether broadcast users were switching by language and platform. Without a shared view of “what good …
16
Conclusion
The BBC told us that digital-first meant prioritising online delivery on both BBC owned services and major third party platforms, and said confusion arose where teams still produced for radio or TV alongside digital output. The BBC explained that it measured success by weekly reach, alongside audience demographics and the …
17
Conclusion
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 …
18
Conclusion
Since 2016–17 the FCDO has set out its funding for the World Service for between one and four years at a time, as well as providing additional funding for specific purposes, such as additional coverage of the Russia- Ukraine conflict. In January 2025, three Parliamentary select committees wrote to the …
19
Conclusion
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 …
20
Conclusion
We asked the BBC what it would do if it were to receive the funding settlement it requested from the FCDO. The BBC told us that it was grateful that the FCDO had increased funding by £30 million in 2025–26 and it had asked for a similar increase for 2026–27. …
21
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 …
22
Conclusion
The BBC explained that it considered a range of factors when deciding which TV and radio outputs to close. This included factors such as: a. The reach and share of different markets. b. The digital maturity of different markets – for example some places such as Afghanistan have a low …
23
Conclusion
The BBC accepted, however, the NAO’s finding that the rationale behind decisions on which individual language services should be closed was not clear enough and that there was insufficient supporting documentation. The BBC acknowledged that some of the decisions it made, for example the decision to close Arabic radio, “did …
24
Conclusion
The BBC explained that it planned to make refinements to its processes based on the NAO’s findings to ensure that it is better able to look back on decisions it has made and make a clearer assessment of what did and didn’t work.47 This includes making improvements to its business …
25
Conclusion
The BBC did not put in place effective monitoring of its BBC World Service savings programmes. The BBC set clear financial targets for its savings programmes, however, the complexity of its finance systems meant that it could not track savings on a granular level and had to rely on estimates. …
26
Conclusion
The BBC acknowledged that its tracking of financial metrics, outputs and outcomes of the World Service savings programmes need to be improved in future.51 The BBC explained that its ability to project manage the implementation of the World Service savings programmes and effectively track its inputs, outputs and outcomes was …
27
Conclusion
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 …