| BBC to cut S4C budget by 17% Annual budget for BBC-produced Welsh-language programming will shrink from £23.5m to £19.5mS4C today received another hammer blow, with the revelation the BBC is to cut the amount it spends on programming for the Welsh-language broadcaster by £4m, or 17%, annually.The reduction will mean that by the end of 2013 the budget for the BBC Wales-produced and licence fee-funded S4C programming ,which includes long-running soap Pobol y Cwm, will be £19.5m, down from £23.5m a year.BBC Wales executives informed staff of the planned cuts today. BBC Wales employs about 1,000 staff, of which some 150 work directly on S4C programmes.A BBC Wales spokesman said it was "too early" to say what the budget cut would mean in terms of job cuts. "It's only about finance at the moment," he added.An S4C spokesman described the BBC move as a "double whammy".Under a statutory agreement that dates back to the launch of S4C in 1982, BBC Wales is required to supply a minimum of 10 hours of Welsh-language programming a week for the Cardiff-based broadcaster, a total of 520 hours a year. The hours provided to S4C have grown to 690 annually, and are expected to be trimmed, but not reduced below the minimum.This is funded by the licence fee on top of S4C's annual direct government grant, which is currently £101m a year – but facing a cut of 25%-40% as part of the coalition's spending review.This S4C output has been protected from the annual efficiency cuts of 5% being imposed throughout the BBC.However, BBC executives are understood to have decided the current level of Welsh-language programming funding is unsustainable and is outstripping spending on English output for the majority of people in Wales. BBC Wales has said it is looking at broader ways to collaborate with S4C.Redundancies are anticipated, but savings are also possible as Pobol y Cwm moves into the BBC's new drama village in the Roath Basin in Cardiff Bay next year.Separately, S4C has today delivered its report to the culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt, on how it proposes to meet the spending review cuts, the full details of which will be unveiled by the chancellor, George Osborne, on 20 October.S4C said it would not be advertising for a new chief executive until after Osborne's announcement. MediaGuardian.co.uk reported yesterday that Guto Harri, the former BBC political correspondent who is now London mayor Boris Johnson's PR man, has been linked to the job.Iona Jones, the previous incumbent, was ousted in July and Arwel Ellis Owen, a former BBC news and current affairs executive, is the acting chief executive.S4C programmes supplied by the BBC include CF99 (a political discussion programme); Pawb A'i Farn (the Welsh equivalent of Question Time); Ffeil, news for children and young people; Y Clwb Rygbi (live rugby); and coverage of the National Eisteddfod.• To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000.• If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".S4CBBCTelevision industryWalesMaggie Brownguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Private doctor given 12-month ban A doctor is suspended from practising medicine for a year by the General Medical Council (GMC). bbc.co.uk |
House prices to fall, says Bank of England House prices will fall next year, the Bank of England has warned. telegraph.co.uk |
Osborne sees the road to recovery despite report New fiscal watchdog warns economic situation is delicately balanced, while Labour says government predictions are overly optimisticGeorge Osborne vowed yesterday to press ahead with spending cuts and tax rises, despite concerns that a report by the government's fiscal watchdog showed the recovery was delicately balanced and could be derailed if exports faltered or unemployment went up faster than expected.The chancellor, who was accused of not having a plan B, told the Commons he would "stick to the course" following a report by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) that provided both ministers and opposition MPs with ammunition as they debated the fate of the economy.Osborne said the OBR's independent forecast backed his view that the UK was likely to avoid a double-dip recession next year and grow steadily over the life of the parliament. It said the economy would grow by 1.8% this year – a substantial increase on the 1.2% previously expected, and greater than forecasts by international groups such as the OECD.Osborne told MPs: "This is an uncertain world but the British recovery is on track. Employment is growing, one million more jobs are being created, the deficit is set to fall, the plan is working. So we will stick to the course. That is the only way to help confidence to flourish and growth to return."The OBR report, made in response to the government's comprehensive spending review, also backed projections by the Treasury that the UK's annual budget deficit would be reduced from one of the highest in the G20 to one of the lowest following five years of austerity.Osborne said the UK would avoid the fate of Ireland, which has agreed to accept an £85bn bailout, with £7bn from the UK.The OBR also revised downwards its forecast for the number of job losses in the public sector, from 490,000 to 330,000, after a switch from cuts in Whitehall spending to cuts in welfare payments over the next five years.But the OBR said growth over the next two years would be less than expected, giving support to opposition claims that austerity measures would hurt the recovery. Critics of the tax and spending plans said the coalition was gambling that exports would rise and businesses would dramatically increase employment to drive Britain out of recession.Several business groups and City analysts joined the shadow chancellor, Alan Johnson, in calling the OBR's forecasts "overly optimistic" when the world economy was slowing and continental Europe was in the grip of a debt crisis.Johnson characterised Osborne's approach as a "reckless gamble" that relied too heavily on exports and could lead to a "jobless recovery". He said the chancellor was attempting fiscal tightening at a rate that had only been attempted twice in living memory – both times by countries benefiting from strong growth.Douglas Alexander, the shadow work and pensions secretary, will warn in a speech today that "In the current economic crisis, no country other than Ireland has attempted to cut so deeply, so quickly," he told MPs. "The chancellor has chosen to take an unprecedented gamble with people's livelihoods and the country's future, and he has done so on the basis of a fundamental deceit that when he assumed office the public finances were worse than expected. …" The reckless gamble that members opposite support is still to come. The chancellor is in the casino, but he hasn't spun the wheel yet."Osborne's austerity drive will make the return to pre-recession levels of employment "slower and more painful" than many people expect. With the dole queue shrinking by just 15,000 since the coalition came to power, it could take 15 years before numbers claiming out-of-work benefits drop below one million if present trends continue, he will say.Most economists have spent the last three months downgrading forecasts for next year after surveys showed a slump in confidence among consumers and businesses. With house prices falling and much of the rise in employment attributed to part-time workers, consumer spending is expected to weaken.The OBR forecast growth would moderate next year from 2.3% to 2.1%, as exports and business investment slowed.According to analysts at Cambridge Econometrics, even this forecast was optimistic, while David Kern, chief economist at the British Chambers of Commerce, warned the economy would struggle next year and unemployment was likely rise above the 8% predicted by the OBR.The TUC general secretary, Brendan Barber, said Osborne "must have missed the forecast showing unemployment little better than static for the next three years". He added: "What is the point of economic policy if it does not include getting people back to work? And while the OBR report is full of uncertainty [about the economy] … George Osborne does not have the plan B any sensible chancellor should."Osborne, who used his response to the OBR report to announce a review of corporation tax, said borrowing this year was expected to be £1bn less than forecast in June. He added: "On the OBR's central forecast, we will meet our fiscal mandate to eliminate the structural current budget deficit one year early, in 2014-15. And the same is true for our target to get debt falling as a percentage of GDP." Over the forecast period, Osborne said £19bn would be saved in interest payments on the national debt.George OsborneTax and spendingLiberal-Conservative coalitionLabourEconomic growth (GDP)EconomicsPhillip InmanPolly Curtisguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
House prices to fall amid lower mortgage approvals House prices are expected to fall further after Bank of England figures showed mortgage approvals dropped for the sixth month in a row. telegraph.co.uk |