Editing BBC Monitoring (section)

==Funding==
Although administratively and editorially part of the BBC, until 2013 BBC Monitoring did not receive any funding from the [[Television licensing in the United Kingdom|licence fee]];<ref name=bbc1>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-38372067|title=BBC Monitoring: MPs raise fears over service's future|publisher=BBC |date=2016|author=Anon|access-date=23 December 2016}}</ref> instead it was funded directly by its [[Stakeholder (corporate)|stakeholder]]s as well as by subscriptions from official and commercial bodies throughout the world. The principal stakeholder is the [[Cabinet Office]] and subscriptions were also received from the [[Foreign and Commonwealth Office]], the [[Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)|Ministry of Defence]] and the [[BBC World Service]].<ref name=bbc1/> Other customers include other government departments, private sector and [[voluntary sector]] organisations.<ref name=about/>

In the 2010 BBC licence fee settlement, the BBC agreed to take on the government's funding of BBC Monitoring from 2013/2014,<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/aboutthebbc/therealstory/licencefee_settlement.shtml "BBC:The real story:BBC licence fee settlement"] Retrieved 16 January 2011</ref> finding the £25&nbsp;million required from the licence fee.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2010/oct/19/bbc-licence-fee-frozen |title=BBC licence fee frozen at £145.50 for six years |website=The Guardian |date=19 October 2010 |access-date=16 January 2011}}</ref>

Reported on BBC News (17 January 2011),{{citation needed|date=January 2022}} BBC Monitoring cut 72 posts following a £3&nbsp;million cut in funding over the next two years. Director of BBC Monitoring, Chris Westcott, said: "Regrettably service cuts and post closures are inevitable given the scale of the cut in funding."

The proposal was to cut £3m from the service's costs by closing the 72 posts – about 16% of its staff – but expected to create 18 new posts. The BBC agreed to finance Monitoring from 2013/14 as part of the 2010 licence fee settlement which froze the annual colour licence fee at £145.50 for six years. The agreement also saw the corporation agree to take over the Foreign Office-funded World Service from 2014.

The [[House of Commons]] Foreign Affairs and Defence Committees strongly condemned the gradual scaling down of BBC Monitoring's capabilities in two separate reports published in late 2016.{{citation needed|date=January 2022}} The reports claimed that BBC Monitoring's operations have been adversely affected by cuts. Both Committees demanded proper funding to ensure BBC Monitoring's future.<ref name="BBC Monitoring scaling down">{{cite web|url=https://medium.com/@jonathanmarks/open-source-stupidity-the-threat-to-the-bbc-monitoring-service-deaaa9a393b4#.vt3i2b4pg|publisher=medium.com|title=Open Source Stupidity: The Threat to the BBC Monitoring Service|first=Jonathan|last= Marks|year=2016}}</ref>