BBC World Service: Departmental Responsibilities

(asked on 14th September 2017) - View Source

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will transfer governmental responsibility and funding of the BBC World Service to the Department for International Development.


Answered by
 Portrait
Mark Field
This question was answered on 13th October 2017

​There are no plans to transfer governmental responsibility and funding of the BBC World Service to the Department for International Development (DfID). The BBC World Service is primarily funded through the licence fee. An additional £291m is being invested by the FCO over four years to support the development and implementation of 12 new language services and other enhancements to existing services.

The new services are tangible proof of a truly Global Britain – making the most of the UK's soft power to help the world's poorest while also projecting the UK's values around the world. Further information on the implementation of the services is available from the BBC World Service.

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