To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the changes in how the BBC World Service is funded on its coverage of the situation in Ukraine.
Answered on
14 July 2014
No assessment has been made of how the changes to BBC World Service funding have impacted on its coverage of the situation in the Ukraine. The BBC is operationally, editorially and managerially independent and it is therefore for the BBC Trust to comment on and manage the funding and operation of the World Service. In a June 2013 statement the then Chair of the Trust, Lord Patten, confirmed that the funding for 2014-15, the first year of Licence fee funding, would be £245 million – representing an increase of £5 million on the previous year of (Foreign Office) funding.