Honours and Appointments Secretariat

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Honours and Appointments Secretariat

A MATTER OF HONOUR
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Heres the real scandal!
List NY2012 List BD2012 List NY2013 Pop
North East 3.1 2.8 3.4 4.3
North West 10.9 9.8 8.2 11.4
Yorks Humberside 4.6 4.2 6.9 8.4
East Midlands 5.2 5.2 4.7 7.1
West Midlands 6.2 6.8 7.0 8.9
East 9.0 8.8 10.0 9.1
South West 9.0 9.6 10.0 8.1
South East 16.1 15.4 14.4 13.6
London 14.3 17.1 15.2 12.2
Wales 5.8 5.4 4.9 4.9
Northern Ireland 5.6 6.9 5.8 2.9
Scotland 7.2 6.8 7.1 8.6

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Todays Presentation

• Background to the Honours System
• Who gets honours?
• And how can we make sure that the right people
  do?
• How to nominate

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Honours are for people who demonstrate
exceptional service and achievement

• People who . . .
• Have changed things, with an emphasis on
  achievement
• Exemplify the best sustained and selfless
  voluntary service
• Have demonstrated innovation and entrepreneurship
• Carry the respect of their peers
• Have shown sustained achievement against the odds
  requiring moral courage
• Have made significant contributions towards
  building the Big Society
• Are major philanthropists showing sustained
  commitment
• If in paid employment, they are for people who go
  beyond their job

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Big Society Examples

• People working to strengthen communities in
  deprived areas
• Community organisers
• People running neighbourhood groups
• People working for voluntary or charitable
  organisations
• Community fundraisers
• People tackling any extremism which promotes
  violence or hatred
• People supporting green enterprise at a local
  level

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Honours Lists

• Two lists per year Birthday and New Year
• Several elements
• Prime Ministers list (up to 1300 names)
• Defence Secretarys list (200 names)
• Foreign Secretarys list (150 names)
• Others (Privy Counsellors, The Queens personal
  list, some overseas countries)
• This presentation focuses on PMs list

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Levels (1)

• Companion of Honour (up to 47 in UK)
• A pre-eminent and sustained contribution in the
  arts, science, medicine, or government (9
  vacancies).
• Knight/DameA pre-eminent contribution in any
  field of activity usually, but not exclusively at
  national level, or in a capacity which will be
  recognised by peer groups as inspirational and
  significant nationally and demonstrates sustained
  commitment.
• CBE
• A prominent national role of a lesser degree, or
  a conspicuous leading role in regional affairs
  through achievement or service to the community
  or a highly distinguished, innovative
  contribution in his or her area of activity.
• OBE
• A distinguished regional or county-wide role in
  any field, through achievement or service to the
  community including notable practitioners known
  nationally.

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Levels (2)

• MBE
• Achievement or service in and to the community
  which is outstanding in its field and has
  delivered sustained and real impact which stands
  out as an example to others.
• BEM
• Achievement or contribution of a very hands-on
  service to the community in a local geographical
  area. This might take the form of sustained
  commitment in support of very local charitable
  and/or voluntary activity or innovative work
  that has delivered real impact but that is
  relatively short (three to four years) in
  duration.

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Recent Reforms

• 1993 (John Major)
• End of automaticity
• Introduction of public nominations now 10,000
  enquiries a year, leading to 3,000 nominations
• 2005 (Tony Blair)
• Independent Selection Committees.
• PM passes recommendations direct to HMQ
• 2012 (David Cameron)
• Philanthropy and Political Service Committees
• Reintroduction of British Empire Medal

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ANNEX 1
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Who gets them?

• At New Year 2013 (1223 people)
• 1068 (87) were at OBE, MBE and BEM level
• 247 (20) were at OBE
• 535 (44) were at MBE
• 286 (23) were at BEM
• 72 were working in their local community in some
  way
• 47 were women
• But only 6 from ethnic minority communities

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Sectors

• 43 went to people nominated for work in the
  voluntary sector
• 14 went to people in Business, Science and
  Technology
• 10 went to people in Sport
• 10 went to people in Education
• 7 went to people in Health
• 5 went to people working in the cultural economy
  (Arts and Media)

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Whos missing?

• Women
• Ethnic minorities
• Entrepreneurs
• Philanthropists
• The retail sector
• Technology
• And we need more strong MBE and BEM candidates
  including young people

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Women are under-represented

• Women have never made up more than 47 of the
  list.
• At The Queens Birthday 2012, the proportion
  dropped to only 41.

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Its even worse at the higher levels

• Starkly illustrated by the NY12 List 7 Dames
  compared to 27 Knights. BD12 and NY13 Lists only
  marginally better.

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We need more women to submit nominations

• Nominators of female Candidates

• Nominators of male Candidates

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A great opportunity

• Honours are a wonderful encouragement
• To individuals
• To organisations or businesses
• To communities
• To the region
• Who or what do you want to stimulate in your
  region?
• How can you reach out to your priority areas?

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Who do you know who deserves an honour?

• What is special about his/her achievements?
• How have they made a difference?
• How have they have overcome obstacles or gone the
  extra mile? Has it been a sustained performance?
• What has been their impact?
• How are they head and shoulders above their peers
  or a role model to others?
• What has been their voluntary contribution? Dont
  just produce a CV or job description!

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Where do I start?

• Download a nomination pack from
  www.gov.uk/honours or telephone [phone]
• Be prepared to provide at least two independent
  letters of support.
• Then be patient (though you can ring the Cabinet
  Office for a progress report) . . . and remember
  that not all nominations will succeed.
• If you would like a member of Rutlands Honours
  Advisory Panel to review your Citation before it
  is submitted to the Cabinet Office, please email
  to khaworth_at_rutland.gov.uk who will forward to a
  member of the panel for an overview.