HC Deb 16 April 1981 vol 3 cc255-6W
Mr. Geraint Howells

asked the Lord Privy Seal how much Government aid is currently spent annually on foreign language broadcasts; and if he will itemise this expenditure.

Mr. Ridley

Details of the grant-in-aid to the BBC external services are contained in the published Supply Estimates—Class II, Overseas Aid and other Overseas Services. At 31 March the direct cost of individual foreign language broadcasts, including transmissions and an allowance for accommodation but no other overheads, was:

£000
Arabic 1,779
French (to Africa and to Europe) 891
Russian 933
Spanish to Latin America 604
German 740
Polish 480
Czech/Slovak 532
Hungarian 430
Serbo-Croat/Slovene 363
Chinese (Cantonese/Mandarin) 473
Portuguese to Latin America 387
Hindi 366
Romanian 335
Farsi 310
Bulgarian 292
Turkish 288
Greek 267
Indonesian/Malay 301
Urdo 250
Hausa 271
Portuguese to Europe and Africa 238
Vietnamese 250
Finnish 199
Bengali 244
Swahili 250
Burmese 183
Japanese 226
Thai 177
Italian 229
Spanish to Europe 198
Somali 182
Tamil 36
Nepali 20
Maltese 14
Total 12 718

In addition, the Central Office of Information produces radio programmes for British missions overseas to supply to local broadcasting stations in the following languages at the costs indicated for the financial year 1980–81:

£
Spanish 17,500
Portuguese 17,000
French 3,800
Dutch 1,200
German 1,000
Greek 500
Total 41,000