Friday, March 13, 2026
BBC World Service under threat
The paper says that the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has issued a scathing report into the state of the World Service, warning that Britain’s soft power on the international stage is being put at risk over “poor decision making”:
While the service, which is funded jointly by the BBC licence fee and the Foreign Office (FCDO), provided in 43 languages across the world has an average weekly audience of 313 million, MPs on the committee said there is a serious risk of it losing ground to its rivals, in part because of increased spending on international media by states such as Russia and China.
The two countries invested a combined total of about £6 billion to £8 billion a year in global media operations, at a time when the World Service has experienced spending cuts.
The committee also highlighted that trust scores have also "increased markedly" for Russian and Chinese state broadcasters in recent years, while the BBC's ratings have remained stable.
The World Service's total budget fell by 21 per cent in real terms between 2021 and 2026, mainly driven by reductions in contributions from the licence fee.
The report comes as the BBC prepares to negotiate the renewal of its charter with the government, with the size of the licence fee up for discussion. The last charter renewal in 2012 saw the BBC agree to pay for the World Service.
MPs said they were "deeply troubled" to learn that the BBC has not been told how much the government will provide in funding for the World Service in the coming year.
The corporation could also not provide the committee with "a single, transparent suite of value for money measures across the service's TV, radio and digital offerings".
The report added weaknesses in BBC governance had "led to poorly evidenced decisions and unclear lines of responsibility within the organisation".
The corporation's management of the World Service's digital upgrade was found to have had weaknesses that contributed to a fall in overall digital audiences of 11% since 2021.
MPs also raised concerns about the BBC's failure to "clearly document its rationale for key decisions made as part of savings programmes", alongside a lack of metrics to effectively track performance and impact on its audiences.
The World Service has been important in helping the UK maintain its influence in many key areas of foreign policy. It must not be allowed to wither in the vine.
