British Broadcasting Corporation (External Services) (Hansard, 1 November 1979)

§ Mr. Colvin
asked the Lord Privy Seal (1) if the proposed 10 per cent. cut in the budget for the foreign language service will involve closing down services to Asia, Africa, Latin America and Western and Southern Europe;
(2) when he expects to decide upon the size of the Foreign Office grant for the BBC external services for the financial year 1980–81;
(3) if reductions in the BBC monitoring and transcription services will form 629W part of the £4 million saving which he proposes;
(4) which foreign language services he proposes to close down to meet the proposed saving of £4 million;
(5) if it is his intention to maintain the BBC World Service in English;
(6) if he intends to maintain the BBC broadcasting services in the relevant foreign languages to the Communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe and to the Arab world.

§ Mr. Blaker
As announced earlier to-day in the context of the White Paper on the Government's expenditure plans for 1980–81, the level of grant-in-aid earlier proposed to be paid to the BBC for the operation of the external services in that year will be reduced by £2.7 million. This represents a reduction of around 6 per cent. rather than the 10 per cent. suggested by my hon. Friend.
The World Service will continue unchanged and, subject to some economies, a plan to improve audibility will go ahead. Vernacular services to the developing world and to those countries which do not enjoy free and open access to information will also be largely unaffected.
The following vernacular services, however, will be discontinued: French, Italian, Greek, Turkish, Spanish—but not including Spanish to Latin America—Burmese and Maltese. There will be some reduction in transcription services and some adjustments to the capital expenditure programme to improve audibility.

§ Mr. Colvin
asked the Lord Privy Seal if he will seek powers to allow part of the cost of the external services of the BBC to be funded by licence revenue instead of solely by Foreign Office grant, as at present.

§ Mr. Blaker
No.

§ Mr. Colvin
asked the Lord Privy Seal if he will publish a schedule showing savings in transmission costs of closing down the services to each of the following areas: Asia, Africa, Latin America, Western Europe and Southern Europe.

§ Mr. Blaker
No. Details of the savings expected of the British Broadcasting630W Corporation external services are given in the answer to my hon. Friend's earlier question.

§ Mr. Colvin
asked the Lord Privy Seal what is the average cost per hour of the external foreign language broadcasts for the years 1970, 1974 and 1978 compared with the average cost per hour of the home services.

§ Mr. Blaker
The average cost per hour of the external services foreign language broadcasts for the financial years 1970–71, 1974–75 and 1978–79 compared with the average cost per hour of the home services is as follows:

Financial year Foreign language broadcasts Television BBC radio network

£ £ £

1970–71 250 7,600 800

1974–75 425 10,450 1,2500

1978–79 750 19,050 1,800

The figures for the BBC radio network include Radio 1, 2, 3 and 4 but exclude local radio stations such as Radio London, Merseyside etc.
These figures were provided by the BBC.

Financial year	Foreign language broadcasts	Television	BBC radio network
	£	£	£
1970–71	250	7,600	800
1974–75	425	10,450	1,2500
1978–79	750	19,050	1,800