Member News
The BBC World Service budget should be ring-fenced to avoid "long-term erosion" of its funding, a group of MPs has said.
The House of Commons foreign affairs committee has called for the cuts to be reversed to protect the Service's global reputation.
The Foreign Office is to reduce its funding by 16 per cent over the next four years. From 2014 the funding for the World Service will come from the licence fee paid by all television viewers.
MPs on the committee said cuts to the 79-year-old service as part of the comprehensive spending review had "long term ramifications" and should be reversed.
It is estimated that more than 30 million listeners could be lost from the weekly figure of 180 million as a result of closure or shrinking more than half of its language services.
The BBC plans cut five foreign language services - Portuguese for Africa, Caribbean English, Macedonian, Serbian and Albanian.
Radio services to be cut include Mandarin Chinese and Vietnamese.
Committee chair Richard Ottoway said: "We do not believe the decision to transfer funding responsibility for the World Service from the FCO to the BBC will make the World Service's funding more secure.
"Despite all assurances, this decision could lead to long-term pressure on the World Service budget, with the risk of a gradual diversion of resources to fund other BBC activities.
"No transfer of funding responsibility for the World Service from the direct FCO Grant-in-Aid to the BBC should take place until satisfactory safeguards have been put in place to prevent any risk of long-term erosion of the World Service's funding and of Parliament's right to oversee its work."
The report found the service successfully promoted British values across the globe and had a reputation "exceeded by none".
The cross-party group of MPs suggested using part of the Department for International Development's budget to make up the shortfall.
It called on the Service to do more to increase its turnover from commercial activities, working more closely with private sector firms in host countries.
Funding for the BBC World Service is currently sourced from the government through parliamentary grant-in-aid, via the Foreign Office.
In a statement, the BBC said: "The cuts being made to the World Service are a consequence of last autumn's spending review and the BBC regrets the scale and pace of cuts that have been necessary.
"If, in the light of the report, the government is prepared to re-open aspects of the spending review settlement, the BBC will be pleased to engage with them constructively.
"The BBC is committed to the long-term future of the World Service and hopes to reinvest when responsibility for funding transfers to the licence fee in 2014."
Have your say...
Please enter your comments below.