Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether she has had recent discussions with the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs on the potential impact of the merger of BBC World News and the BBC News Channel on democracy in (a) the UK and (b) African countries.

The Government strongly supports the BBC’s mission to bring high quality and impartial news to global audiences in some of the most remote places in the world, particularly where free speech is limited.

The BBC’s proposal to merge BBC News and BBC World News forms part of their plan announced on 26 May to build a digital-first organisation, and means they will continue providing a 24-hour news channel for the UK and overseas.

We recognise that in the current fiscal context, the BBC, like other organisations, is facing difficult financial decisions. However, the BBC is operationally and editorially independent from the government, and decisions on service delivery are a matter for them.