Skip to main content

Evidence Session: BBC World Service and soft power

15 November 2024

On Tuesday 19 November, at 2.00pm, the Foreign Affairs Committee will hold an evidence session on the future of the BBC World Service and the relationship between the Service and UK foreign policy.  

The session will assess the impact of the Service on the UK’s soft power. The Committee will hear from expert witnesses, including Dr Nicholas Westcott, former UK Ambassador and diplomat, Jamie Angus, former Director of the BBC World Service and Baroness Arminka Helić, former Special Adviser to William Hague, then-Foreign Secretary. 

The first panel will explore the challenges facing the Service. Questions that may be covered include emerging trends in mis/disinformation and competition from international broadcasters. The panel may also focus on regions where the Service is most prominent, and consider gaps where the Service might improve.  

The second panel will examine current funding arrangements for the Service and uncertainty around potential long-term funding models. Questions in this panel may cover the merits and pitfalls of using Official Development Assistance to fund the Service. 

In the morning before this session, the Culture, Media and Sport Committee will hold its evidence session on the BBC World Service 

This earlier session, at 10.00 on Tuesday 19 November, will focus on both the services provided by the World Service and its funding. The Culture, Media and Sport Committee will hear from both former and current senior figures at the BBC, including the corporation’s former Chair Richard Sharp. 

On Tuesday 19 November at 2.00pm, Room 6, Palace of Westminster

From 2.00pm:

  • Dr Nicholas Westcott – former UK Ambassador to Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Togo and Niger; former High Commissioner to Ghana; Professor of Practice at SOAS, University of London  
  • Dr Jieun Kiaer – Senior Research Fellow and Dean of Degrees at Hertford College, University of Oxford; Young Bin Min-Korea Foundation Professor of Korean Linguistics 
  • Professor Martin Scott – Professor of Media and Global Development, University of East Anglia 

From 3.15pm:

  • Jamie Angus – Chief Operating Officer, al-Arabiya News Channel; former Director of the BBC World Service 
  • Baroness Arminka Helić – Peer in the House of Lords; former Special Advisor to William Hague, then Foreign Secretary 

Further information

Image: William/stock.adobe.com