§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what further representations he has received about the future of the BBC's External Services; and what replies he has sent.
§ Mr. HattersleyMy right hon. Friend has received letters from a number of hon. Members and members of another place, and from the Chairman of the BBC. The replies have been broadly on the lines of those given by my right hon. Friend the Minister of State to my hon. Friends the Member for Coventry, North-West (Mr. Edelman) on 29th March and the Member for South Ayrshire (Mr. Sillars) on 1st April.—[Vol. 871, c.225–226, 288.]
§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs 99W in how many of the countries which now receive the BBC's External Services programmes the signal strength is below that of the average BBC signal in the United Kingdom.
Mr. HaftersleyIt is difficult to make useful or meaningful comparisons because the transmission conditions on the shortwave HF band used for most BBC External Service broadcasts differ considerably from the medium wave—MF—and VHF band transmissions generally used in the United Kingdom. However, the BBC is dissatisfied with the audibility of its signal in various regions including parts of East Africa, the Middle East, Central America and Europe.
§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will seek to convene a conference with the BBC and the trade unions concerned to discuss the future of the BBC's External Services.
§ Mr. HattersleyMy right hon. Friend is in touch with the Chairman of the BBC and the general secretaries of the broadcasting unions about the BBC's External Services.
§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what has been the cost to the Exchequer of the BBC's External Services in each of the last 10 years; and what percentage this has been of total public expenditure for each of these years.
§ Mr. HattersleyAs follows:
Financial Year Cost of BBC External Services (£ thousands) Percentage of total public expenditure 1963–64 8,063 0.067 1964–65 9,434 0.072 1965–66 10,555 0.073 1966–67 11,611 0.073 1967–68 10,566 0.058 1968–69 11,093 0.058 1969–70 11,517 0.057 1970–71 13,201 0–059 1971–72 14,009 0.056 1972–73 15,026 0.053
§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what has been the expenditure on capital equipment for the external services during each of the past five years.
§ Mr. HattersleyThe BBC's capital expenditure on the External Services was as follows:100W
£ thousands 1969–70 … 957 1970–71 … 1,495 1971–72 … 895 1972–73 … 755 1973–74 (prvisional) … 1,058
§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs by what proportion the costs of the BBC's External Services for the last available year have increased over those one year previously, five years previously and 10 years previously; and, if allowance is made for inflation, what were the proportionate increases in real costs for the same periods.
§ Mr. HattersleyThe costs in 1972–73 represented the following proportionate increases in relation to the years shown:
1971–72: … … 7.2 per cent. 1967–68: … … 42.2 per cent. 1962–63: … … 99.6 per cent. Taking fluctuations in the General Index of Retail Prices into account, the proportionate changes in real terms in 1972–73, in relation to the same years, were as follows:
1971–72: … minus 1.2 per cent. 1967–68: … minus 5.3 per cent. 1962–63: … plus 13 per cent.
§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the cuts that have been made in the BBC's External Services during the last two years, giving in each case the date, the details of the cut or curtailment of the service, specifying the countries involved and the reduction in BBC staff, and the consequent saving of both running and capital costs; and if he will indicate whether the cuts took place for economy reasons and, if not, for what other reasons.
§ Mr. HattersleyFor 1973–74 the BBC was asked—in 1973—to reduce its request for a supplementary grant in aid for the External Services by £57,000. Of this, £47,000 was saved in capital revenue, and £10,000 on capital minor works. No specific service was reduced and no staff cuts were made.
1974–75
The following savings in the External Services were agreed earlier in 1974:
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(a) Recurrent £ thousand (1) African English Service: termination of weekly radio tape service 31
(2) Termination of Caribbean English service 20 (3) Termination of English by Radio & TV magazine 12 (4) Reduction in size of Huna London magazine for Arab countries 10 (5) Reduction in level of activity of transcription service 65 (6) Reduction in publicity budget 20 (7) Reduction of Monitoring services coverage of Central Africa 25 (8) Merging of two receiving stations 55 (9) Withdrawal of correspondent post Turkey-Iran-Pakistan 16 (10) Termination of orchestral programme in World Service 21 (11) Miscellaneous and general service savings 115 sub-total 390 These savings involve a reduction of 28 staff.
(b) Capital £ thousand (1) Postponement of work on Caribbean relay station 190 (2) Postponement of part of Bush House modernisation programme 70 sub-total 260
In addition (not in grant in aid); 60 Postponement of work on Cyprus relay station and of UK medium wave development and minor works 20 sub-total 80 TOTAL 730 All these savings are currently being put into effect.
The savings for both years were decided upon by the last Administration, in consultation with the BBC, in the light of its decisions to reduce public expenditure.
§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the increase or decrease in the number of countries receiving the BBC's External Services for each of the past 10 years.
§ Mr. HattersleyThere has been no change. The BBC's coverage is worldwide.
§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the countries of the world now receiving the programmes broadcast by the BBC's External Services.
§ Mr. HattersleyThe External Services of the BBC are currently broadcast to every country in the world.
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§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement about the future of the BBC's External Service.
§ Mr. HattersleyNone, though their cost, like all other items of public expenditure, must be kept under review.
§ Mr. HattersleyI would refer my hon. Friend to the replies which my right hon. Friend the Minister of State gave to my hon. Friends the Member for Coventry, North-West (Mr. Edelman) on 29th March and the Member for South Ayrshire (Mr. Sillars) on 1st April.—[Vol. 871, c.226, 288.]
Mr. Ashley askedthe Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the number of hours broadcast weekly by the BBC's External Services; and if he will list the percentage changes in the last year, five years and 10 years, respectively.
§ Mr. HattersleyThe External Services of the BBC currently broadcast 746 hours per week. The percentage change over the last year is nil, and over the past five and 10 years has risen by 12 per cent. and 19 per cent. respectively.
§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the increase or decrease in the number of different services within the BBC's External Services for each of the last 10 years.
§ Mr. HattersleyThere have been no changes in the main service groupings. Within these main services there have been subsidiary changes including the withdrawal of two languages, Albanian and Hebrew, and the addition of one.
§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many different services are now run by the BBC's External Services.
§ Mr. HattersleyThere are 12 geographical service groupings.
§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs 103W if he will list the increase or decrease in the number of languages in which BBC External Services programmes were broadcast for each of the past 10 years.
§ Mr. HattersleySince 1964 the number of language services in which the BBC External Services broadcast has been reduced from 41 to 40. The Albanian and Hebrew language broadcasts were withdrawn in 1966 and 1969 respectively, and Nepali was added in 1969.
§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the number of different languages in which the BBC's External Services programmes are now broadcast.
§ Mr. HattersleyThe External Services of the BBC currently broadcast in the following languages: English, Arabic, Bengali, Bulgarian, Burmese, Cantonese, Standard Chinese, Czech-Slovak, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hausa, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Malay, Maltese, Nepali, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, SerboCroat-Slovene, Sinhala, Somali, Spanish, Swahili, Tamil, Thai, Turkish, Urdu, Vietnamese.
§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the number of foreign-born personnel working for the External Services during each of the last five years; and if he will indicate approximately how many of these are refugees.
§ Mr. HattersleyThe figures are as follows: 1969, 721; 1970, 742; 1971, 773; 1972, 775; 1973, 771. Some 20 per cent. of the staff concerned come from countries to which they might return only with difficulty.