Select Committee · Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee
The future of the BBC World Service
Status: Closed
Opened: 5 Nov 2024
Closed: 9 Sep 2025
Inquiry scope
The Culture, Media and Sport Committee is to hold a short inquiry into the BBC World Service. The World Service broadcasts in 42 languages, including English, reaching an estimated 320 million people globally each week. Most of the World Service’s global audience access the World Service in its local language. BBC World Service is funded primarily from the UK licence fee alongside additional funding from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. The recent Budget announcement included extra funds for the World Service, from the FCDO budget, but only for the financial year 2025-26. BBC Director General Tim Davie has argued that funding for the World Service should be the responsibility of central Government, as it used to be before 2014. The Committee’s inquiry will look at the services the World Service provides, how it is paid for, the challenges it faces operating around the world, and the pressures funding the World Service from the licence fee places on other BBC services. The inquiry will run parallel to another inquiry on the World Service from the Foreign Affairs Committee .Oral evidence sessions
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| Date | Session and witnesses | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 19 Nov 2024 | Fiona Crack · BBC World Service, Jon Zilkha · BBC World Service, Professor Richard Sambrook, Richard Sharp · BBC | View ↗ |
Who gave evidence
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| Witness | Organisation | Sessions |
|---|---|---|
| Fiona Crack · Controller Content Language Services and Deputy Global Director, BBC News | BBC World Service | 1 |
| Jon Zilkha · Controller World Service English | BBC World Service | 1 |
| Professor Richard Sambrook | — | 1 |
| Richard Sharp | BBC | 1 |
Correspondence
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