World Service (Hansard, 21 June 1993)

§ Mr. Tony Banks
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what information he has on the number of listeners to the World Service expressed per kilowatt of transmitter power.

§ Mr. Lennox-Boyd
The latest information indicates that some 4,895 people listen to World Service direct broadcasts for every kilowatt of power transmitted. This figure does not include listeners to World Service programmes transmitted by other broadcasters under rebroadcasting arrangements.

§ Mr. Tony Banks
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many FCO staff working for the communications engineering department at transmitter sites in the United Kingdom and overseas have been transferred to the World Service; and what was the impact on the grant in aid of the transfer of CED transmitter sites and Ascension island services.
18W

§ Mr. Lennox-Boyd
No FCO staff were transferred to the World Service, but four engineering and two industrial staff employed by the FCO were transferred to BBC Transmission, a separate body. The impact on the grant in aid of these and other transfers was cost neutral since, where necessary, funds to cover the costs of the additional responsibilities were transferred from the FCO to the World Service grant in aid. The total amount transferred was £6.43 million.

§ Mr. Tony Banks
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how much of the World Service increase in budget since 1980 has been spent on upgrading and replacing old transmitters.

§ Mr. Lennox-Boyd
The amount spent by the World Service on such projects under the 1981–1991 audibility improvement programme was £96.4 million—at outturn costs. Between 1980–81 and 1991–92 the annual total World Service grants in aid rose from £55 million to £159.6 million.

§ Mr. Tony Banks
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what information he has on hours broadcast per employee in the World Service.

§ Mr. Lennox-Boyd
The latest information available indicates that the World Service achieved 15.3 hours of broadcasting output per employee in 1992–93.

§ Mr. Tony Banks
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what information he has on audience figures for World Service broadcasting in(a) China, (b) eastern Europe, (c) Africa and (d) the rest of the world.

§ Mr. Lennox-Boyd
The latest audience figures for World Service broadcasts for these areas are as follows:
(a) Eastern Europe, excluding countries of the former Soviet Union: 4. million

(b) Africa (South of Sahara): 26 million

(c) Rest of the world: 93. million, of which 50. million are in the sub-continent and 12 million in the middle east and north Africa.
No data are available for mainland China.

§ Mr. Tony Banks
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs which language services it is presently planned to cease broadcasting from the World Service.

§ Mr. Lennox-Boyd
There are no plans at present for the World Service to discontinue any language services.