House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee The FCO's performance and finances in 2011-12 This is a volume of submissions, The FCO's performance and finances in 2011-12 , which have been reported to the House. Only those submissions written specifically for the Committee have been included. List of written evidence Page 1. BBC World Service (PF 1) 1 2. BBC World Service (PF 2) 3 3. Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) (PF 3) 5 4. TheCityUK (PF 4) 9 5. Foreign and Commonwealth Office (PF 5a) 11 6. Foreign and Commonwealth Office Supplementary (PF 5b) 13 7. British Council (SCO 6) 16 8. BBC World Service (SCO 7) 22 PF 1 E-mail from Peter Horrocks, Director, BBC World Service Following the Government’s 2010 Comprehensive Spending Review and the subsequent savings plan announced by BBC World Service, I am writing to you now to let you know the details of the Year 3 savings. These savings are part of the original three year restructuring plan I announced in January 2011, and are unrelated to the World Service’s move to Licence Fee funding in April 2014. In 2011 the BBC World Service was set a savings target of £42m by April 2014, of which nearly £30m has already been achieved. Changes to programming, staffing, scheduling and distribution will save a further £12m over the year 2013/14. However, there will be no further language service or platform closures, and all of the savings I am announcing today support the strategic direction of the World Service designed to best serve our audiences. Although we have worked hard to reduce the number of post closures, originally estimated at over 100, this will unfortunately result in 73 post closures. The changes announced today include: • Changes to the World Service English schedule including a new simplified global schedule with fewer regional variations, the replacement of World Briefing with a new programme, The Newsroom, and a reduction in the number of documentaries. • Outlook will be expanded to an hour each day and a new programme, The Slot, will feature arts and culture coverage. These schedule changes will result in the closure of The Strand. • In total there will be 25 post closures across World Service English. • Changes to language services - Year 3 savings affect those services which were not required to make changes in Years 1 and 2 of the Spending Review settlement. To reiterate, there will be no further closures of languages or radio services. The changes will primarily affect operational structures and transmission. In some language services, post closures will be mitigated by the creation of new posts in bureaux overseas. • The English Language Teaching team will reduce their commercial activity to focus on public service provision. • These changes will result in 44 post closures across the language services. • We will also be making changes to the distribution of short wave and medium wave programmes to take effect from the end of March 2013. I will be in touch with more detailed plans about distribution changes next week. The NUJ and BECTU have been notified of these proposed changes and I and the senior management team will consult both them and staff affected by these changes to look for ways to reduce the number of compulsory redundancies where possible. Despite financial pressures, we have continued to adapt our services in response to changes in our audiences and this strategy will continue. We have already seen the successful launch of new TV programmes, Focus on Africa in English on BBC World News, and Dira Ya Dunia in Swahili, carried by partner broadcasters across sub Saharan Africa. By making these changes, we are achieving the savings required whilst crucially, ensuring our audiences continue to receive the best programming. George Entwistle, the BBC’s new 1 PF 1 Director General, stated in his opening address to staff that he is very supportive of the World Service, as is the Chairman, and as we prepare to move to Licence Fee funding in 2014, by focussing on key strategic objectives, we will be able to demonstrate that we have clear direction and purpose and are as efficient as possible. Please do get in touch if you have any particular concerns or questions on the above changes. 18 October 2012 2 PF 2 E-mail from Peter Horrocks, Director, BBC World Service Last week I wrote to you about changes to World Service English and language services to help meet savings targets for year 3 of the Government’s Spending Review. I said then that there would also be changes to distribution, and I am writing to you now to give details of those plans. To reiterate, these savings are part of the original three year restructuring plan I announced in January 2011, and are unrelated to the World Service’s move to Licence Fee funding in April 2014. As you are aware, distribution of BBC World Service has changed significantly in recent years as alternative means of accessing media have proliferated. Short wave audiences are declining as radio audiences come to rely increasingly on medium wave and FM, and there has been a rapid growth of TV and digital media. In the Arabic speaking world, satellite television is widely available and is complemented in many areas by radio services on medium wave, as well as the internet. Many urban areas also have access to FM radio broadcasts. We have responded to changing audience needs by launching a network of FM relays, a 24-hour television channel and the bbcarabic.com website. From the end of March next year (2013), the following changes will be implemented: Short wave • The English short wave service will continue to all regions, but at a reduced level of six hours per day (currently available between seven and 19 hours a day depending on the region). • Arabic short wave to the Middle East will stop. However, in Sudan, where there is a strong need for humanitarian information and limited access to other media, we will continue to provide a short wave service. Medium wave – Middle East • The Arabic medium wave service to Syria and Lebanon will continue, but will be reduced from 18 hours per day to eight. • The Arabic medium wave service to Egypt will also be reduced, to six hours per day (currently 17.5 hours daily). Medium wave to the Gulf States will remain at six hours per day. • The English medium wave service to Israel, Lebanon and Jordon will be reduced to four hours per day (reduced from 16-18 hours daily) and will be broadcast on a new frequency. • Medium wave services will continue during peak hours where possible, when they have the greatest audience reach. We estimate that today’s announcement will result in an overall loss of 1% of the total Global News audience across all platforms. Any 3 PF 2 audience loss is of course regrettable, but we are not in a financial position to continue to distribute our services on all wavebands at all times of the day. As a result of these changes, the short wave transmitting station in Cyprus, which is managed by Babcock and staffed jointly by them and local Foreign and Commonwealth Office staff, will close, with the loss of 26 posts. Whilst there are no post closures for BBC staff, we are working with FCO and Babcock colleagues to assist the team in Cyprus. The changes are in line with our overall strategic aim of ensuring that we are able to respond to changing audience needs and invest in the way audiences consume news. This will continue to be our strategy as we prepare to move to Licence Fee funding. As part of that process, the BBC Trust will prepare – with our substantial involvement – a licence describing the purpose, remit, strategy and budget of the World Service in the Licence Fee. The Trust will also carry out a public consultation on this licence ahead of transfer to the Licence Fee. As ever, please do get in touch if you have any particular concerns or questions on the above changes. 25 October 2012 4 PF3 Written evidence from PCS (Public and Commercial Services Union) Introduction PCS is the biggest union in the FCO. We have over 1400 members and represent staff working both in the UK and overseas, in the Diplomatic Service and Home Civil Service cadres and across all grades in the office. Summary A. In order to achieve “Diplomatic Excellence”, the FCO needs to have increased funding and increased staffing levels amongst UK based staff. B. The current promotion system used in the FCO needs to be reformed to allow the full potential of staff to be realised and to tackle possible discrimination. C. The FCO needs to ensure it has proper systems in place to monitor and promote diversity throughout the organisation. D. An independent review should be conducted to assess the impact of the increasing use of Locally Engaged staff at the expense of UK diplomats on the UK’s overall diplomatic capability. The FCO’s “Diplomatic Excellence” programme and associated arrangements for the training, promotion and deployment of staff. 1. PCS broadly supports the idea of “Diplomatic Excellence”. However for the FCO to truly achieve this it needs adequate resources. Over the current CSR period, the FCO will see a 10% real terms cut to its budget, with an annual cut of £100 million from its running costs. This now leaves the FCO, as the FAC has observed, spending less annually than Kent County Council, and with funding levels well below an equivalent foreign affairs department such as the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, whose current annual budget is £2.5 billion(excluding spending on international aid), compared with the FCO’s current annual budget of £1.056 billion These cuts mean that staff numbers, among UK based staff, will by our estimation be likely to have fallen over the current CSR period by 20% .