Under the BBC's Licence and Agreement which this House has
recently renewed, the Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary is empowered to prescribe the languages and hours of External Services programmes. He does so after taking into account the national interest and available funds. Funds are very limited and the External Services have already been exempted from the cuts imposed on most Government spending plans last year.
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In the difficult task of deciding which services to end we have looked first to the Transcription Services which are a net charge of nearly £1m on the Grant-in-Aid. We recognise the value of providing to overseas broadcasting stations recordings in such fields as music, drama and entertainment, but we do not consider them essential. We have looked, next; to broadcasts to friendly neighbouring countries where Britain's voice is already well heard, namely French to France, and Spanish to Spain, Italian and Maltese. It was particularly hard to choose services to the Third World. We have chosen from each continent a service directed to one country or confined area only, namely Portuguese to Brazil, Burmese and Somali. In no case does the ending of the vernacular service imply any diminution of the excellent relations we enjoy with the country concerned. In all cases not only will the World Service in English continue it will be heard more clearly as a result of the steps we plan to take to improve audibility.
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The Government believes that the first priority must be to ensure that the BBC can be heard.· If audibility is to be improved there must be a switch in resources from current to capital expenditure. In being asked to re-order its priorities, the BBC is being treated no differently from other publicly- funded bodies which are currently facing the decisions required to manage within limited funds.
Assuming the required savings of some £3.Om p.a. are achieved by 1982/83 the Government would be prepared to contribute a substantially larger amount from 1983/84 onwards to meet the balance needed to implement the capital programme as planned.
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