The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the UK House of Commons will hold a scrutiny session on the BBC World Service at 10am on Thursday January 8th 2026, taking evidence from senior BBC officials including outgoing BBC Director General Tim Davie.

The World Service’s budget (£358 million [€430m] in 2025-26) has fallen by 21 per cent in real terms since 2021-22. This has mainly taken place as part of the BBC’s management of an overall reduction in licence fee income, which funds the World Service in combination with government grant funding. Since 2022, savings of £48.6 million have been made by the World Service against a target of £54.2 million, primarily found through closures of TV and radio outputs.

The PAC’s session will be focused on the progress and impact of savings programmes within the Service. The National Audit Office found last year that the savings and closures made have contributed to a fall in audiences of 52 million (14 per cent) between ’21-’22 and ’24-’25. The World Service expected this would be mitigated by a corresponding rise in audiences on digital platforms, but digital audiences fell by 11 per cent in the same period.

Witnesses’ views will likely be sought on the approach to these savings programmes and the impact on BBC audiences. Other likely topics include how public trust will be sustained in BBC World Service services.

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Tags: bbc world service, Public Accounts Committee, Tim Davie