Written evidence submitted by the BBC
Response to DCMS Committee: Minority Languages
To assist the Committee in its inquiry, the BBC is pleased to provide details of our output and content in the autochthonous languages identified by the Committee.
Under the BBC’s Royal Charter and Agreement, the BBC has always supported the minority languages of the United Kingdom through our output and services, often in partnerships with other organisations. In the context of the Charter, “regional and minority languages” are defined as Welsh, Scottish Gaelic, Irish and Ulster-Scots. The BBC is pleased to also provide content in Cornish and Scots.
Autochthonous minority languages
BBC ALBA is Scotland’s Gaelic-language free-to-air public service broadcast television channel offering content across a range of platforms and delivered through a unique partnership between MG ALBA and the BBC.
BBC Radio nan Gàidheal serves the Gaelic audience with its own radio station which attracts a weekly reach of 56% amongst the Gaelic community and is the one place where Gaelic can be heard and used by people on a daily basis wherever in the world they are.
BBC ALBA, Radio nan Gàidheal and BBC online provide a wide range of impactful factual, cultural and news and current affairs content. This content includes:
Music is a centrepiece in BBC ALBA and Radio nan Gaidheal’s schedules providing a platform for traditional music and musicians together with opportunities for collaboration, for example the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra with Skye electronic band Niteworks and with Capercaillie. Musical and cultural events such as Na Worlds, Na Trads and the Royal National Mòd are annual appointments in the Gaelic broadcasting calendar. Collaboration between BBC Scotland’s English and Gaelic language production teams on events such as TRNSMT and the semi-finals and final of the BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year maximises coverage for audiences and frees up investment for other content.
Coverage of the Scottish Women’s Premier League and Women’s Sport 360 shines a light on women’s sport in Scotland through the medium of Gaelic and women’s football features regularly on BBC ALBA. Live coverage of the Camanachd Cup shinty final features annually on BBC Radio nan Gàidheal and alternates between BBC ALBA and the BBC Scotland channel with highlights on the TV channel not covering the live game.
Religious programmes and services on BBC ALBA and BBC Radio nan Gàidheal also ensure support for Gaelic communities of faith and patronage of music and writing composition associated with them.
Early years (ages 0-3) provision on CBeebies ALBA and BBC ALBA You Tube includes informative and entertaining content from the CBeebies House about colours, numbers, songs, the environment and other topical subjects as well as bedtime stories. CBBC ALBA also offers a daily schedule of fun and informative animated and live-action content for children of school age.
In addition, Bitesize Gaelic resources support learning through primary and secondary school Gaelic Medium Education (GME) and align with the stages outlined in the Curriculum for Excellence and delivers content, in partnership with MG ALBA, on BBC ALBA suitable for children in immersion education. Bitesize content is available to support Gaelic learners aiming for National 4, National 5 or Higher qualifications in a range of subjects.
As well as complete beginners, SpeakGaelic will help enable lapsed or less confident speakers to use their Gaelic with confidence. Learning content is available on BBC iPlayer, BBC ALBA, BBC Radio nan Gàidheal, BBC Sounds and other digital platforms. The LearnGaelic website also offers regularly updated resources, tools and support for learners of the language.
Launched in 1977, BBC Radio Cymru remains the most popular radio station among fluent Welsh speakers with its blend of music, debate, entertainment, culture and news. It reaches approximately 135,000 listeners in Wales each week.
The diversity and distinctiveness of the output is best encapsulated in some of Radio Cymru’s programme titles: from entertainment in Sioe Tudur Owen, communal hymn singing on the long-running Caniadaeth y Cysegr, and Beti George’s probing interviews on Beti a’i Phobol.
BBC Radio Cymru’s sister station, BBC Radio Cymru 2 launched in January 2018 broadcasting popular and contemporary music. The service offers an alternative morning service on digital platforms. BBC Radio Cymru 2 is aimed at extending choice through the medium of Welsh and is aimed, in particular, at those audiences who wouldn’t traditionally listen to Radio Cymru.
The BBC’s Welsh language online news service is BBC Cymru Fyw. It was launched in 2014 and provides news coverage, longer-read magazine articles and video clips. Around 50,000 users access the service each week.
Until 1982, the BBC broadcast a wide range of Welsh language television programming on its own channels in Wales. Since then, with the creation of S4C, our programming contribution is now broadcast on the dedicated Welsh language channel.
The BBC and S4C have a strong partnership which has proved indispensable for audiences in Wales. At the heart of the BBC’s relationship with S4C is what’s known as ‘contributed programming’ - a statutory commitment by the BBC to provide no less than 10 hours a week of programmes to S4C funded by the corporation.
The programming comprises news and current affairs, live sport (including regional rugby and all Wales’s home games in the Six Nations), the long-running drama Pobol y Cwm and extensive coverage of the National Eisteddfod. These programme reach a combined audience of almost 130,000 each week.
In addition, the BBC also provides S4C with media distribution services. Most notably, S4C is the only independent, third-party channel on BBC iPlayer. S4C’s presence on BBC iPlayer since 2013 has been hugely significant in allowing the channel to reach new and digital audiences. The BBC also provides HD broadcast carriage to S4C.
Bitesize is an educational service for children between 3 and 16+ across the UK. In Wales, the resources which include films, animation, infographics, text and pictures are produced bilingually. In addition, the content on the Bitesize website helps young Welsh-language learners. The content is promoted via a number of channels including social media.
During the recent lockdown, Bitesize programmes were made for broadcast on S4C. The series’ main aim was to target young children of primary age with parents/guardians who were not Welsh speakers to ensure linguistic progression during that time.
In Northern Ireland, we provide local BBC programmes and services in Irish and Ulster-Scots in fulfilment of relevant Charter and Ofcom Service Licence requirements.
We have developed the volume, range and editorial ambition of Indigenous, Minority and Lesser-Used Languages (IML) video/television content as a result of the funding that is available from NI Screen’s language Broadcast Funds.
Our IML (and related) programming is aggregated and available in a Gaelige and Ulster-Scots Collection on BBC iPlayer – thereby extending the availability, reach and public value of this content.
We work closely with NI Screen and relevant other agencies/organisations in the development of our editorial priorities for IML programming. And we monitor programme performance on an ongoing basis.
We know that minority language provision and associated issues can be contested in a local context and work hard to ensure that BBC programming is widely accessible – and that it provides opportunities for users to encounter people with different backgrounds and views.
We have specific Ofcom commitments in respect of IML on BBC Radio Ulster/Foyle. Our work in this area includes continuing programme strands (Kintra and Blas) that reflect the needs and experiences of language users and communities.
We have developed language learning resources in Irish and Ulster-Scots linked to local curriculum needs/requirements via BBC Bitesize. Some of our online content has benefited from the support of NI Screen’s language Funds.
The BBC is committed to diversity and inclusion, encouraging content makers to work in, create in and contribute in their own voice. The Scots language - and stories about the Scots language and culture - feature across our content including on the BBC Scotland channel, online and on BBC Radio Scotland with archive content available online. The BBC Scotland channel was founded to reflect modern Scotland, and the use of Scots is part of the natural flow of content and contributors to the output.
A considerable amount of BBC Radio Scotland’s music output is populated by content in Scots, including much of the music on Travelling Folk, on Take the Floor and on Your Requests with Gary Innes. The annual MG ALBA Scots Trad Music Awards (Na Trads) are broadcast live on BBC ALBA with the 20th anniversary show presenters in December 2022 co-hosting in Gaelic and Scots.
In our news output, we have regularly covered developments in the Scots language including reports on a scheme launched to encourage the use of the Scots language in schools; studies of the most popular words used by children in Scotland; Creative Scotland’s work to support the Scots language; and regular coverage of the arts including of repertoire performed in Scots.
We recently launched our first Cornish language content on BBC iPlayer with a collection of four short films: Yn Mor, An Tarow, Mowes, and Kestav. These are available here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/p0dv4crx/cornish-shorts
The collection was commissioned through FylmK, a talent development scheme delivered by Screen Cornwall in partnership with Cornwall Council to support increased used of the Cornish language (Kernewek). The short dramas were written and produced by Cornish filmmakers and writers.
The launch of these films comes at a time when indigenous Cornish filmmaking, and the user of Kernewek, is rising in profile following Mab Hudel, Edward Rowe’s 2022 FylmK commission, becoming the first Cornish language short to be selected for last year’s BFI London Film Festival.
Cornwall’s screen sector is distinctive both within the region and nationally due to its strong Celtic heritage and cultural links, minority language and perspective on the world as an outward looking peninsula with a worldwide diaspora.
BBC – 7th March 2023
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