§ Mr. Proudfootasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, from information derived from his monitoring service, how many overseas countries broadcast to the United Kingdom in the languages of immigrants to the United Kingdom.
§ Mr. KershawVery many countries broadcast in languages spoken by immigrants to the United Kingdom, including, of course, English. Several countries have programmes in English specifically beamed to the United Kingdom. I am informed that the only country noted by the BBC Monitoring Service as beaming programmes specifically to the United Kingdom in a language other than English is Pakistan, with 35 minutes weekly in Urdu and 3½ hours weekly in Sylheti. In addition, Afghanistan (3 hours 40 minutes weekly in Pushtu), Bangladesh (3½ hours in Bengali), Greece (3½ hours in Greek), Iraq (7 hours in Urdu) and Turkey (3½ hours in Turkish) beam programmes to Western Europe for speakers of those languages.
§ Mr. Proudfootasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, from information derived from his monitoring service, how many hours per week, Moscow broadcasts to the United Kingdom in the languages of immigrants to the United Kingdom.
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§ Mr. KershawI am informed that, although Radio Moscow broadcasts in English and in numerous South Asian and other languages used by immigrants to the United Kingdom, only some of those in English are beamed specifically at the United Kingdom. The broadcasts in Bengali, Hindi and Urdu (17½ hours weekly each) and in seven other Indian languages (7 hours weekly each) are not generally audible here.
§ Mr. Proudfootasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, from information derived from his monitoring service, how many hours per week Cairo broadcasts to the United Kingdom in the languages of immigrants to the United Kingdom.
§ Mr. KershawI am informed that, although Radio Cairo broadcasts in English, Bengali, Hindi and Urdu, these broadcasts are not specifically beamed at the United Kingdom. The broadcasts in Urdu (8¾ hours weekly) and Hindi and Bengali (7 hours weekly each) are more specifically beamed towards the Indian sub-continent.