BBC bosses have been heavily criticised for their inability to explain how the World Service “provides value for money to UK taxpayers and why it should therefore continue receiving government funding.”
The service is funded by a mixture of Licence Fee money and grants from the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO). Reductions in the amount of Licence Fee funding the BBC allocates to it have seen the service’s total budget fall by 21% in real terms between 2021-22 and 2025-26.
MPs on Parliament’s powerful Public Accounts Committee have been carrying out a review of how the World Service has been reforming services to match the reduced funding.
In a report published today, they say “the BBC was unable to provide the Committee with a single, transparent suite of value‑for‑money measures across the Service’s TV, radio and digital offerings.”
The report calls on managers to introduce “clear measures” which can be used to “quantify the value for money of the World Service” and so “support a clear, evidence-based case for continued government funding.”
Today’s report has also highlighted “weaknesses in BBC governance, which have led to poorly evidenced decisions and unclear lines of responsibility within the organisation.”
It notes that “the BBC’s management of the Service’s digital transformation had weaknesses which has contributed to a fall in digital audiences of 11% between 2021-22 and 2024-25.”
MPs found that the seven language services that became digital‑only in 2022–23 “saw overall audiences down 63% and their digital audiences down 39%.”
And they raised concerns that the BBC had failed to “set detailed, language service-level targets; define what ‘good looks like’ for each market; or establish granular monitoring to track whether broadcast users were switching by language and platform.”
The broadcaster is being urged “to set out what it is doing to address its uneven digital performance to date and accelerate digital transformation of its services to future-proof the service for a digital age.”
MPs also raise concerns that the BBC still doesn’t know how much FCDO funding the World Service will receive for the coming year and call on the Treasury to change how it allocates funding “to enable multi-year and timely funding settlements to allow for longer-term planning”.
Committee Chair Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown said: “The professionalism of the World Service’s productions and educational content is amazing, and a jewel in the crown of the UK’s soft power effort around the world.
“But its prominence is being diminished by poor governance and short-sighted funding decisions.
“My Committee is urging the Government and the BBC to set out a clear direction of travel for the World Service to ensure that its audience is not left behind.”
He added: “Both government and the BBC should seriously think about how the World Service’s influence can be bolstered around the world, rather than risk its reach withering by degrees year on year.”