Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether he has taken steps to fund the BBC World Service after 2025.

Funding for the BBC World Service after 2025 will be determined as part of the next Government Spending Review.

For the FY2022-25 Spending Review, FCDO provided a flat-cash settlement of £283 million to the World Service via the World 2020/2025 programme. As part of the Integrated Review Refresh in 2023, the Government provided a further £20 million over 2 years to protect all 42 language services from closure. The Government recently launched a BBC funding review, which will report to Ministers in the Autumn.