BBC Data As an Information Provider and Publisher
scanned copy - there may be mistakes!
David Stoker
David Stoker (M.Phil., FL.A.) is Radio Data Manager of BBC Data, and as
such is responsible for the programme information and research services to
domestic radio. He is at BBC Data, Broadcasting House, London WIA IAA, England.
As the World's largest and multifarious broadcasting and programme making
organisation, the British Broadcasting Corporation has a voracious appetite for
information on all subjects and in all forms. To satisfy the information needs
of such an organisation (with a staff of 25,000) requires the employment of
several hundred librarians, archivists, and other information and documentation
staff. working in both highly specialised, and very general units, and dealing
with a wide variety of media. This paper will not attempt to catalogue the full
range of such services but rather to describe in detail the information and
publishing work of BBC Data. the department which is responsible for providing
the general reference and information services based on the written or printed
word, whether from books, newspapers, on-line services, or from the
Corporation9s own working papers. To do this however, it is first necessary to
describe the scale, and the information context within which the department and
its customers work.
THE BBC AND ITS INFORMATION NEEDS
The BBC differs from many other comparable organisations in that it is
both a programme maker and the operator of several broadcasting networks. It is
also responsible for providing three essentially different broadcasting
services: (domestic) 'Radio, Television, and External (i.e., overseas
broadcasting) Services These three headings form the basis of the BBC's
organisation, but also encompass a very wide range of educational, cultural, and
entertainment activities related to programme making as well as the associated
technical and engineering services necessary for their being broadcast. For
example, the BBC is by far the largest single patron of the arts in Britain,
supporting six orchestras, two choirs, and producing many hundreds of hours of
drama each year.
BBC Radio incorporates four national networks specialising in POP music,
light music/sport, classical music, and the spoken word (current affairs, talks,
documentaries. drama etc.). Scot land, Wales, and Northern Ireland, also have
their own national Radio services, which, at times, opt-out of the four networks
and produce their own programmes. Specialist educational broadcasting to
schools, as part of a programme of Continuing Education for adults, and to
further education students of the "Open University" are also broadcast
separately. Finally there is an. as yet incomplete, network of thirty-two local
radio stations, broadcasting to specific communities within the U.K.
The Television Service, is responsible for two U.K.-wide channels, BBC1
and BBC2. but with opt-outs by Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales for their
own programmes. School and Open University programmes are broadcast on these
channels during the day, together with major sporting events, although at
present there are some gaps in the schedules. However the Television Service is
presently preparing to broadcast largely entertainment programming throughout
the day on BBCI with educational programmes and sporting events primarily on
BBC2. At present the BBC is responsible for producing about 87.5% of its
Television programming, the remainder being feature films, series or serials
purchased from overseas.
External Services encompass the English language BBC World
Service, thirty-four foreign language services ranging from Arabic
(broadcasting 63 hours per week) to Nepali (1.5 hours per week), and an overseas
Monitoring Service. The World Service also
incorporates three other commercial services-the Transcription Service, English
by Radio and Television, and Topical Tapes. 'which sell complete programmes and
programme materials to overseas broadcasters, including National Public Radio
stations in the USA. The monitoring of overseas radio, and more recently
television broadcasts, is also undertaken by the External Services on behalf of
the British Government, and is carried out in conjunction with the United States
Federal Broadcasting Information Service.
Domestic radio and television are financed from a compulsory licence fee
paid by all owners of television sets, whereas the External Services are funded
directly by the British Government. Expenditure during 1984/5 was £220m. on
Radio, £555m. on Television, and £80m. on External Services. However, all ser
vices are to some small degree supported by a wide range of commercial
activities, which together make a profit of £9m - Such commercial activities
include the sale of radio and television programmes or tape and film footage,
the publication of books, periodicals and course materials associated with
broadcasting or particular programmes, or courses, the provision of engineering
and training services, and the sale of library and information services.
It will be seen from the above, that the Corporation has many and varied
information needs, and there are particular problems in providing an information service to meet them. The first of these
is the range of library materials required. including film, videotape,
videodiscs, stills, orchestral scores, audio tape, gramophone records, books,
periodicals. news clippings, news agency and wire service materials, materials
from on-line services etc. The next problem is one of physical dispersal. The
Corporation is still largely centred in London, but even there it occupies some
thirty buildings with separate headquarters for the three major functions
situated some miles from each other. Radio and television also operate
broadcasting centres in the capitals of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland,
and Network Production Centres in four other major provincial cities in the
United Kingdom. The output from these centres is not of merely local interest,
and so their information needs are just as varied as those of the headquarters.
Information workers within the BBC therefore may have to deal with any
subject at virtually any level. Their customers might include a classical music
producer preparing the introduction to a concert, a scriptwriter for a quiz, a
research engineer involved in developments in satellite broadcasting, a
researcher from a children's television programme. a monitor seeking to identify
personalities or places mentioned in an overseas news broadcast. a lawyer
preparing the defence of a libel action resulting from a broadcast, a
statistician involved in audience research, or a journalist writing a news
story; each of whom has radically different but equally important information
needs. In aggregate, the clientele may be interested in information which is
serious, entertaining, or trivial; in the durable and ephemeral; in the present.
future. or past.
Most of our users however, are programme makers. who tend to be talented
and creative people, each of whom regards his or her particular project as the
most important ever undertaken. and many of whom seem incapable of planning
their research until deadlines are imminent. They know that the British public
tends to be vigilant for, and vociferous in their complaints against factual
inaccuracies in radio and television programmes, and so insist on the highest
standards from their information services. They may have a particular area of
subject expertise or merely the creative flair and technical knowledge to make
entertaining programmes. They may have many years experience within the
Corporation, and so understand the range and limitations of the information
services available. Alternatively, they may have been employed on a temporary or
freelance contract. in order to undertake a specific project, and consequently
require considerable help, advice and patience from permanent staff.
Ideally. all the information needs of the Corporation's staff (or at
least those in London) would be met under one roof, using integrated retrieval
techniques. with co-ordinated subject headings. The idea of a single
"resources supermarket” where the programme maker might find all the
library materials required for his or her programme has often been put forward
but is a long way from having been achieved. The three-way functional split
between Radio, Television and External Services. results in the triplication of
many functions. including libraries, but each with particular requirements and
emphases designed to suit the needs of their users. Thus as there are three
separate newsrooms, so there a re three news clippings libraries to serve them,
and whereas detailed press coverage of a foreign election might be of limited
interest to the unit serving television, it would be essential within External
Services. This degree of triplication of service unfortunately extends
throughout the information field, including reference libraries. sheet music and
gramophone record libraries and registries.
Certain library functions are primarily related to one of the three
directorates-for example. the visual materials in the film and videotape
libraries are of most interest to television producers, just as the audio tapes
in the Sound Archives find their natural home within Radio. In such
circumstances the libraries will be organised and managed within that
directorate. Thus the collections of recorded sound within Radio (i.e.,
Gramophone Record Library, Sound Archives, Sound Effects, and Current
Recordings) are the responsibility of a department named Recording Services
Radio. However in other media-such as the printed word -the application is
universal throughout the Corporation, and the information services are more
efficiently managed on a cross-directorate basis. For this reason, the BBC's
wide variety of library and information services are not fully integrated, even
within individual directorates, although there is nevertheless a considerable
degree of cooperation between information workers in all fields.
The Corporation's internal directory of libraries and information units
therefore lists about 100 services and divides them into four categories:
General Reference and Information Services, Libraries dealing with visual media,
Libraries dealing with recorded sound, Music Libraries, and Libraries outside of
London. BBC Data, and therefore the remainder of this article, is largely
concerned with the services in the first of these categories.
BBC DATA AS AN INFORMATION
PROVIDER
BBC Data provides a wide range of information and documentation services
both within and outside the BBC based, on the written and printed word. In
addition it is also responsible for one major stills library - the famous Hulton
Picture Library - which will be dealt with separately. Approximately
three-fifths of the department is concerned with providing programme research
and information services based on a network of reference libraries, news
information units (news clippings libraries), and a variety of small specialised
information services (such as the Pronunciation Unit. or the Events Unit). The
remaining staff are engaged on
records management and documentation services, or else in various commercial
activities which exploit the BBC information resources on behalf of external
fee-paying customers.
As mentioned earlier. the department is organised and managed on a
cross-directorate basis, whereas most of the BBC is run within the directorate
structure. The particular needs and requirements of radio, television and
external services are therefore represented by three Data Managers who run the
information units specific to their directorates, who also have a liaison role
between the department and the programme makers.
PROGRAMME RESEARCH AND
INFORMATION SERVICES
In the BBC, the term "Reference” is something of a misnomer, when
associated with libraries for they not only provide a quick reference and
research service but also loan books as well. They are named thus only to
differentiate them from other BBC libraries. BBC Data operates three such
Reference Libraries in London. serving the three directorates. which together
have a stock of about 2001,000 volumes. They deal in both factual and pictorial
information and aim to stock books, periodicals, pamphlets and reports of all
kinds and in all subjects, as well as make use of a growing number of on-line
services. The range of enquiries is enormous: the recipe for custard pies in
comedy films; what song titles are connected with cars?; who wrote “the
Gatling's jammed and the Colonel's dead”?; what furniture would be in the
interior of a Welsh miner's cottage in the 1900s?; what clothes might be worn by
a nineteenth century navvy?; what are the heights of the members of the Royal
Family?; when did a particular politician last speak in the House Of Commons on
the subject of homelessness?, and many many others.
As mentioned earlier, our clientele are interested in material at all
levels. To a programme maker, a Peanuts cartoon book, or a romantic novel might
be of equal or more importance than a library full of more serious books, if
that is what he requires at the time. Most of the stock is however aimed at the
intelligent lay man - the type of books found in most large public libraries -
and the only specialised collection we have relates to the history and practice
of broadcasting. Reference Library staff constantly make use of academic books
and periodicals but in the main these are borrowed from other sources, as they
could never hope to stock everything needed without the resources of a national
library. They have therefore to operate a large Outside Loans Unit which is
regularly called upon to trace and obtain books in London within a matter of
hours, and occasionally experiences great difficulty in ensuring their prompt
and safe return. The other unusual feature about the work is that the majority
of it is done over the phone rather than in person, with books and other
documents frequently delivered to offices by messengers. Producers will
occasionally come in to browse however, as an element of serendipity can give
rise to some excellent programmes.
Most enquiry staff have to be able to answer questions on any subject,
but there are also a number of subject specialists who are capable of answering
questions and offering advice and guidance to producers on possible lines to
follow or potential contacts outside the BBC. At present there are four such
specialists in the fields of Engineering, Industrial Affairs, Natural Resources
and Energy, and the Life Sciences. The Reference Libraries also carry out a
number of specialised services such as the checking of quiz scripts to ensure
that the questions are unambiguous and the answers are verifiable, and the
compilation of bibliographies for BBC publications and course materials.
Perhaps the most unusual service provided is Negative Checks-to ensure
that names used in a fictional context ire indeed truly fictional. Over the
years there have been a number of accidental instances of libel in plays where
the scriptwriters have used names which could be identified with real people,
places, or things, as in Britain the libel laws are much stricter than in the
United States. Sometimes trade names get absorbed into the language, like
Hoover, Xerox, sellotape, or tannoy. Mostly the manufacturers are quite happy
about this but if you broadcast a play in which people died in a hotel fire
because the tannoy had broken down, then writs are likely to start flying.
Similarly, if a real address is accidentally used in a police series to
represent a brothel, the innocent occupants are likely to be extremely upset.
Names, addresses, telephone and car numbers, names of companies, products, and
anything else that will be named on the air in a fictional context. are now
checked, and it is often much more difficult to prove that things don’t exist
than that they do.
Apart from the Directorate Reference Libraries. BBC Data is also
responsible for some collections which perhaps more truly fit the usual ideas of
a "special library." The Engineering Research Library, for example,
relies mainly on periodicals, research reports, and on-line services in the
fields of broadcasting electronics, acoustics, and information technology. The
officer-in-charge is our Engineering Subject Specialist.
Similarly the Monitoring Service Reference Library at Caversham is open
eighteen hours each day helping to identify people, places, and things heard on
overseas broadcasts. For example. the monitor may be listening to Radio Morocco
talking about a trade delegation to Poland. The Moroccan newsreader may not be
very good at pronouncing Polish names, and in any event the reception is not
good, and so the Monitor hears only a garbled name which he has somehow to
identify. The Reference Library is there to help him find the correct answer
using a host of home-grown information files, maps. and foreign directories. The
Monitoring Reference Library is one of the few places outside the USSR which is
able to provide not only a full list of members of the Supreme Soviet of the
USSR but also biographical details of the majority of its members. Caversham is
also frequently the first place in the West to hear of major political events
such as coups, and so the staff have to know not only who is currently in power
but also of any political enemies or insurgent groups. The Monitoring Service
just coming to grips with the visual element in their work as Caversham now
monitors Soviet Television broadcasts. It may be of supreme importance to be
able to identify who is standing next to Mr. Gorbachev at a military parade in
Red Square.
The second main library service is known as News Information, which is
four clippings libraries serving Radio, External Services, Television News. and
Television Current Affairs. The Radio Services unit for example. stocks nearly
20 million news paper clippings in hard copy and microfiche together with
indexed sets of radio news bulletins. It is open 24 hours a day. 365 days a year
and last closed for a few hours in 1960 when it moved into a new building.
Otherwise it has not closed since the 1940s. The unit is certainly the largest
clippings library in Britain and probably also in Europe.
News Information exists primarily to fill the "information gap"
of days, weeks, months, or years between the time events happen and are reported
in the papers until the time when the information is retrievable from other
printed sources. Indeed sometimes material which is published in newspapers is
never available elsewhere. The four units serve, primarily, journalists working
in news and current affairs, but also the producers of a host of other chat
shows. magazine programmes and documentaries. They work by classifying clippings
and filing multiple copies of daily and weekly newspapers and magazines and
follow a fixed schedule so that the morning’s clippings will be in the files
by the afternoon. The clippings files are supplemented by information from
indexed copies of the BBC's own news bulletins, and from various news data
bases. The clippings are kept in hard copy for about 18 months but are then
microfiched. News Information concentrates on the 4'quality" newspapers but
will al ways cut the 66popular9 press looking for exclusive stories, "human
interest” stories or where there is a particular treatment of news stories.
In addition to the classification of newspaper articles, each News
Information Unit is also responsible for the storage and indexing of the news
bulletins issued by their respective directorates. At present all such indexing
is still carried out manually, but as electronic newsroom systems are introduced
over the next few years, such a function will be rendered largely unnecessary.
Journalists can be among the most difficult of all library customers to
serve. They constantly search for new angles on stories thus defying traditional
schemes for classifying information to produce the goods, they are very
demanding and like to be spoon-fed; they hate new technology, such as computer
terminals, and even microfiche. and as likely as not will lose an irreplaceable
clippings file once they have finished with it -if you all them the chance. But,
at the same time, a good journalist can see the germ of an investigation or
story in the juxtaposition of a few otherwise diverse clippings. It is the task
of news information to juxtapose them.
BBC Data's News Information Service provides an essentially pragmatic
information system, and the main qualification for working for it is a deep
knowledge of, and unflagging interest in news and current affairs. The breakdown
of subjects in the thesaurus is not always logical, but it works, and truly
reflects the needs of the users for both "hard news" and
"offbeat” stories. The unit will be equally capable of providing details
of the latest developments between the Contra and Sandinista forces in
Nicaragua, stories of horseplay at public functions, political banana skins,' or
sexual scandals. However unscientific it may seem at times, the News Information
service, is extremely successful and, for example, the Radio unit is now
answering more than two and a half times as many enquiries per year as in 1974
with only a minimal increase in staff. The fact that it also provides the major
source for the answering of enquiries by the commercial BBC Data Enquiry Service
also tends to indicate that it can provide information not readily available
elsewhere.
In addition to the two major BBC Data library services, the department
also operates a number of smaller specialised information units. The most famous
of these is probably the BBC Pronunciation Unit. This exists to advise
broadcasters about the pronunciation of English words -for example diphtheria
rather than diptheria, Enoch Powell (rhyming with towel) but Anthony Powell
(rhyming with pole) -and how foreign words and particularly names might best be
pronounced by English language broadcasters. The unit is always busy at election
times and preparing for major sporting events such as the Olympic games, but
throughout the day they will answer a stream of enquiries from continuity
announcers and newsreaders.
The Events Unit is another BBC Data unit which exists to provide details
both of forthcoming events in order to assist the planning of news coverage, and
also diaries and chronologies showing the anniversaries of personalities which
form the basis of so many programmes. The International Briefing Unit is there
to advise broadcasters planning to work overseas. on the conditions, regulations
and contacts necessary for their trip. It also produces a series of Feedback
documents about different countries, where the advice and experience of previous
BBC travellers can be collated for future use. Another unit, Programme Index.
can provide a list of BBC Radio and Television programmes dealing with (e.g.)
drug abuse, identify the dates when a given drama was broadcast, or advise on
the number of times particular politicians have contributed to programmes in
order to counter any allegations of political bias.
PAPER-KEEPING AND
DOCUMENTATION SERVICES
These include a number of Registries and specialist filing services for
the Corporation's working papers, a Records Management Centre providing low cost
bulk storage of non-current materials, a Written Archives Centre for historical
materials, and a Micrographics Unit, which caters for the remaining document
storage needs.
There are a large number of Registries and filing units within the BBC,
the largest of which are the responsibility of BBC Data. These include
Registries which relate to wide areas of the Corporation's work -such as the
Television Central Registry or the External Services Programme Registry, and
others working closely with specialised areas such as the Programme Contracts,
Radio Management, or Personnel Services Registry. Staff will gather, select,
grade, and where appropriate index current working papers, contracts, scripts,
and other programme documentation. As a unique record of BBC policy, activities
and intent. as well as providing logical files for BBC staff, the Registry
Service is the main source of material for the BBC's archival document
collection. Where such a large scale filing operation is not appropriate. the
service can also offer tailor-made filing systems within individual offices, or
an advice and consultancy service about all aspects of paper management.
The BBC Records Management Centre is probably the largest records centre
within the United Kingdom. It has recently moved to large newly converted
warehouse several miles from the centre of London where accommodation costs are
considerably lower. The Centre will accept, store, and where necessary retrieve
any non-current documentation, thereby saving expensive office space. The staff
do not rearrange material in any way. Where necessary they will restrict use of
the papers to the originating department. and carry out periodic reviews with a view
to permanent preservation or destruction.
The Written Archives Centre is the ultimate destination for any documents
of permanent historical value. This Centre holds thousands of files, scripts,
publicity materials and other documents principally relating to the first forty
years of the Corporation's history, including correspondence with some of the
most eminent statesmen, speakers, writers and artists of the twentieth century.
These papers are listed, indexed and made available to BBC staff for use in
solving administrative or legal queries about rights, ownership or copyright
payments, and as research materials for programmes. Papers up to 1962 are also
made available to academic researchers and are widely used for theses, books,
and other projects. For example. the Centre's holdings or a large n umber of
scripts and letters written by George Orwell during the years in which he worked
for the Corporation have recently merited publication.
Finally, for those areas where hard-copy documentation storage is not
economic, but destruction is not feasible. BBC Data operates a Micrographics
Unit. This department can produce. process and duplicate roll film. microfiche
and jacketed film to archival standards.
COMMERCL4L SERVICES
In the last decade the BBC has become more aware of the potential
commercial value of the information services which have been built up for its
own purposes. BBC Enterprises and BBC Publications have been operating as
commercial operations and selling products and services created by the BBC and
ploughing back their profits into the Corporation for many years. However, since
the formation of BBC Data in 1982, one of its responsibilities has been to
operate a commercial division to exploit the resources in its custody, and also
to investigate other commercial possibilities from the sale of BBC information.
Much of this is managed through the Data Enquiry Service which provides a
personal research service, based on BBC Data and other libraries, to public
relations companies, advertisers, bankers, industrialists and the media and
other clients who need up to-the-minute and accurate information. The service
has grown steadily since its inception and has always met its stringent
financial targets. It operates on an ad-hoc hourly rate or by annual
subscription and can receive and deliver information by telephone, telex, letter
or dispatch rider. Strict confidentiality is maintained as, frequently, several
clients may be seeking the same information.
The Corporation also operates one major commercial picture library, which
is unique among its information services in that the collection was not
originally developed for broadcasting purposes. The Hulton Picture Library
originated with the extensive collections of the Picture Post weekly magazine, and became a picture library following
the magazine's closure in 1956. The library was eventually purchased by the BBC
and although it ran at a loss for several years, it was retained because of the
enormous potential value of the pictures. However, in 1979 responsibility for
the library was transferred to the Department which was later to become BBC
Data, with the requirement that it should become commercially viable. As such it
became the exception to the rule that BBC Data was concerned with the written
and printed word.
The financial objective has been achieved over the last five years. The
range of the original collection has been greatly extended and brought up to
date with a number of acquisitions including the London Evening Standard picture library. It now contains over ten million
images, and is one of the largest picture libraries in Europe. It has also
recently extended the range of its commercial services by developing a
publishing arm and a postcard imprint. It has entered into an arrangement with
the Bettmann Archive in the United States, so that both collections may call
upon the resources of the other.
Through BBC Data Publications, there is now available a range of specific
information and research publications draw largely from the information output
of the department and of departments. Examples include a Thesaurus
of Terms for use in news
libraries, a Bibliography of British
Broadcasting, and material from the corporations Broadcasting Research
Department. The extensive Popular Music
index is also now available for sale in microfiche format, and was produced
by the Department's own Micrographics Unit which, in addition, carries out some
commercial bureau work.
In 1983 BBC Data became involved with electronic publishing with the
launch of the "World Reporter@"
news data base in conjunction with Datasolve Ltd. This includes the texts of the
BBC's Summary Of World Broadcasts, and
External Services news items. among other British and American news
publications. This is an example of
BBC Data exploiting materials which were originally produced in
machine-readable' form for other purposes, and yet can be added to the database
at comparatively little expense.
THE FUTURE
The future of BBC Data's
programme research and information services will undoubtedly be determined by a
host of un-known factors which may affect the future organisation, finance, and
range of activities of the Corporation, which are all subject to public
scrutiny.
The BBC has announced its intention of moving its central administration,
and the Radio Directorate away from its present costly central London base, to a
new and much larger site adjacent to the Television Centre in West London. This
change in accommodation for a major studio complex and for some of the largest
libraries, which will take place during the next decade, but it could provide
the ideal opportunity for reducing the proliferation of libraries, either by
integrating libraries using different media within the Radio Directorate. or
else by combining similar operations currently serving Radio and Television
programmes. In any event. however. there lies ahead a difficult time in which
the Radio will be seeking to increase its output and reduce its overheads.
whilst operating from inadequate accommodation.
In the field of picture libraries however, the BBC is already beginning
to look at the possibility of combining and rationalise its resources, both for
programme making and commercial purposes Following the recent successful
development of the Hulton Picture Library,
a recent report has advocated the establishment of a central stills
collection on one site incorporating the collections of the Hulton, with two
other large, and several at smaller stills collections. Together, such a
collection would probably represent the World's largest single collection of
images. The future management of such a collection is as yet undecided.
Computerisation has already begun to have an effect in the Reference
Libraries, both for information retrieval and for housekeeping activities. The
range of databases used and the libraries' reliance upon them continues to grow,
although the service will continue to be primarily based on traditional methods
and materials for the foreseeable future. However the present computerised
cataloguing system should shortly be extended to include an integrated book and
periodical acquisition and circulation scheme. This has been no easy task
because BBC Data is responsible for acquiring and distributing the newspapers
and periodicals required not only for its libraries but also for the Corporation
as a whole, and consequently operates on a very large scale in this area.
Similarly microcomputers are gradually being introduced for a variety of
housekeeping functions within the various Registry and Records Management
services.
Nobody in the News Information Service thinks that the present intensive
manual systems will always remain. In the past the service has looked closely at
various computerised indexing and retrieval methods, and decided that none could
cope with the volume. variety, and currency of enquiries handled each day.
Automation of news information will come when all British newspapers are
available in machine-readable form. This has always seemed a fairly distant
prospect, but at the time of writing some fundamental changes taking place in
the newspaper industry seem likely to bring about this state of affairs much
sooner than was previously believed. Similarly the present manual indexing of
news bulletins will shortly disappear as computerised newsrooms are introduced
throughout the BBC.
The continuing introduction of automated methods for the production of a
wide range of BBC materials, including news bulletins, research reports,
catalogues, and all kinds documentation, will provide BBC Data publications with
an enormous field for developing their publishing activities, in hard-copy,
micrographic, and electronic media. The department is only just beginning to
show its real potential in this area.
Gradually there is developing throughout the Corporation an awareness of
the cost, and above all the value of the enormous information resources which
have been built up to support BBC programmes. If part of their commercial value
can be realised, without prejudice to the Corporation's primary activity as a
public service broadcaster, additional funds could be ploughed back into
enhancing such services, and as a result, into improving the quality of
programmes.