The BBC World Service has a global audience of some 180 million people and is widely considered to be an important instrument of British “soft power”. This note provides background to ongoing parliamentary debates on recent decisions to cut the World Service’s budget and, in the longer term, to fund it by the licence fee.
BBC World Service (95 KB , PDF)
The BBC World Service has a global audience of some 180 million people and is widely considered to be an important instrument of British “soft power”. This note provides background to ongoing parliamentary debates on recent decisions to cut the World Service’s budget and, in the longer term, to fund it by the licence fee.
On 26 January 2011, Peter Horrocks, Director, BBC World Service, announced cuts to language services and radio broadcasts to meet the Spending Review settlement, including the closure of five language services.
As part of the UK government’s Spending Review in October 2010, it was agreed that funding for BBC World Service would transfer to the Licence Fee from 2014/15 onward.
Relevant parliamentary papers include the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee’s sixth report of session 2010-11, The Implications of Cuts to the BBC World Service, HC 849 13 April 2011.
BBC World Service (95 KB , PDF)
This briefing provides statistics on the TV licence fee and general television viewing trends. TV licence fee revenues in 2023/24 were £3.66 billion. Total BBC income in 2023/24 was £5.4 billion. TV licence fee revenues accounted for around 68/% of total income.
There will be a Westminster Hall debate on funding of the BBC World Service at 3pm on 26 June 2025. The debate will be opened by Peter Prinsley MP.
There will be a Westminster Hall debate on the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on intellectual property at 2:30pm on 23 April 2025. The debate will be opened by James Frith MP.