Grant-in-Aid funding increased in the year by £14 million to £239.1 million.This increase reflected
the outcome of the Government’s Spending Review 2004 with all of the additional funding being
designated for operating activities. As a result, funding available for the year comprised
£207.1 million for operating expenditure, £26.8 million for capital and £5.2 million for the subscription
to BBC Monitoring.
The operating expenditure for the year reflected savings of £7.1 million which arose from new
digital working practices and savings in distribution and transmission costs. Additional monies were
invested in enhancing our output to the Middle East and the wider Islamic world, expanding our
online support of language services and extending our distribution through FM rebroadcasters
around the world. Operating expenditure also includes a charge of £14.2 million for restructuring.
This includes £10.4 million of exceptional restructuring costs, primarily relating to the cost of the
ten language service closures that took place during the year.
During the course of the year a value for money review of financial support at BBC World
Service was conducted. As a result of redesigning processes, savings of one third of finance
staff costs were identified and implemented in time for the start of the new financial year.
Further value for money reviews of administrative support, business development and
technical support have been started and are due to report in the new financial year.
Capital expenditure included improvements to overseas offices, particularly in Delhi and Jakarta,
together with the start of a project to replace existing distribution systems.The new systems are
being designed to be resilient, place control for scheduling in the hands of programme makers
enabling them to respond more quickly to audience needs and to facilitate a move out of Bush
House when Phase II of the new Broadcasting House has been completed.
Subscription income from official stakeholders (including BBC World Service Broadcasting)
amounted to £21.0 million which, combined with income from other sources, produced total
revenue for BBC Monitoring of £23.9 million. The year end deficit of £2.3 million includes
exceptional restructuring costs of £2.0 million.
The outcome of the Cabinet Office Review has guaranteed BBC Monitoring a five-year
settlement of £24.6 million per annum for the next two financial years, reducing to £23.4
million from 2008/09 to 2010/11. Following the Review it has been agreed that in future years
BBC Monitoring will be funded directly by a grant from the Cabinet Office rather than by
subscriptions from a number of stakeholders.
Chief Operating Officer and Director of Finance, BBC World Service
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Financial review |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
