§ Norman BakerTo ask the Deputy Prime Minister for what reason the Winter Supplementary Estimates 2001–02 included provision to transfer sums from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Ministry of Defence to the Cabinet Office in respect of BBC monitoring. [28330]
§ Mr. LeslieSince 1997, funding to support BBC Monitoring's capability to monitor, translate, and report items of interest from foreign broadcasts and media has been provided by four stakeholders: the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Ministry of Defence, BBC World Service Broadcasting, and the Cabinet Office. Following a review, the four stakeholders agreed in May 2001 to redistribute funding between them in a way which reflected more fully the relative scale of their850W requirements for BBC Monitoring's services. The sums transferred in the winter supplementary estimate give effect to that change.