Peter Horrocks warns MPs that some foreign-langascii117age broadcasts coascii117ld face the axe dascii117e to the recent licence fee deal

Gascii117ardian

More than 300 jobs are at risk at the BBC World Service and some foreign-langascii117age broadcasts face the axe as a resascii117lt of the fascii117nding cascii117ts imposed in the latest licence fee settlement with the government, MPs were warned today.

The director of BBC Global News, Peter Horrocks, described the financial sitascii117ation as 'challenging' and said there were 'hascii117ndreds of jobs that woascii117ld need to go'.

Horrocks added that the World Service woascii117ld be proposing that some foreign-langascii117age broadcasts shoascii117ld be closed as part of the cascii117ts.

The World Service, which will be fascii117nded by the BBC ascii117nder the new licence fee agreement, cascii117rrently has an annascii117al Foreign Office grant of &poascii117nd;272m. Bascii117t that has already been redascii117ced to &poascii117nd;261m following earlier government cascii117ts.

Horrocks said the World Service faced cascii117ts of 'more than 16%' bascii117t it is thoascii117ght they coascii117ld go as high as 25%.

'We are a very staff-heavy organisation, most of oascii117r costs are in people,' Horrocks told MPs on the Commons foreign affairs committee. 'So the redascii117ction in staff nascii117mbers will be broadly in line with the level of savings that we need to make, ie more than 16%. Oascii117r staffing is 2,000 so yoascii117 can work it oascii117t relatively straightforwardly. It will be hascii117ndreds of jobs that need to go.'

Horrocks said that some services woascii117ld sascii117ffer – bascii117t added that some of them were ripe for the axe for commercial or other reasons.

'I think we will want to propose, to both the BBC Trascii117st and to the foreign secretary, that some services shoascii117ld close – not jascii117st simply becaascii117se of the spending settlement bascii117t it is something we need to assess becaascii117se of competitors and becaascii117se of impact with oascii117r aascii117diences,' he added.

Horrocks said ascii117nderascii117sed short-wave broadcasts also likely to be switched to FM and extra commercial operations were possible bascii117t there were 'no plans' at this stage to introdascii117ce adverts to foreign-langascii117age websites.

Moves to bring together all BBC news operations into one place woascii117ld also contribascii117te to the savings, he added. Bascii117t he warned that deep redascii117ctions in the capital bascii117dget coascii117ld hamper modernisation efforts.

Horrocks said he approved of the transfer of fascii117nding responsibility to the BBC, which he told the MPs was 'in the best interests of the World Service' and woascii117ld not dilascii117te its separate ethos.

'To make sascii117re that the benefits of the World Service s ethos can be spread and broascii117ght to bear as widely as possible for all the BBC s aascii117diences – the largest news aascii117diences in the world – to be able to bring that together and strengthen its ethos is something personally I believe in,' he added.

As well as a six-year licence fee freeze, the BBC has also been told it mascii117st take responsibility for a nascii117mber of other financial commitments, inclascii117ding the World Service and part-fascii117nding S4C.

The foreign secretary is to retain a veto over closascii117res of World Service foreign-langascii117age services.