Select Committee on Public Administration Written Evidence


Memorandum by the Cabinet Office

  1.  This note brings the Committee up to date on progress in the reform of the honours system since the government's reply to the Select Committee (Cm 6479: Reform of the Honours System) in February 2005.

AN INDEPENDENT SYSTEM

  2.  In its report (A Matter of Honour), the Committee recommended the establishment of a Statutory Honours Commission, with members appointed by transparent procedures and publicly named. The Government has made a number of major reforms in response:

    —  Independent chairs and members have been selected through public advertising in accordance with Nolan principles;

    —  Experts from outside the Civil Service form the majority of committee members;

    —  Main Committee is formed principally from the chairs of the expert sub-committees;

    —  All committee members are named.

  3.  This has gone most of the way to meet the Committee's recommendations. But given that The Queen is advised by Her Ministers, it is right that the advice should continue to be put to Her by the Prime Minister.

  4.  The new committees (full list at Annex A) have now considered proposals for honours in the New Year 2006 honours round and the forthcoming Birthday list. The members of the committees are keen to get better coverage of the honours system (one of the Select Committee's recommendations) and are working to spread knowledge of the system, and the ways in which nominations can be made. They also want to use their own knowledge to help identify and work with areas of the community which are under-represented.

  5.  As well as chairing the Main Honours Committee, the Cabinet Secretary is also a member of the State committee which looks at candidates for honours from the Civil Service. The Committee is chaired by Sir David Cooksey.

  6.  The House of Lords Appointments Commission (HOLAC) was established in April 2001 as an independent non-departmental public body to advise the Prime Minister on his recommendations for peerages to The Queen. The Commission's role is to vet all nominees for peerages for propriety (except Ministers and Law Lords).

  7.  In addition, from June 2005 until March 2006 HOLAC gave advice on the propriety of the candidature of individuals added to the list by the Prime Minister (see para 17 below).

ORDER OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE

  8.  In its review of the honours system the Committee recommended that there should be no further appointments to the Order of the British Empire and that a new Order, the Order of British Excellence, should be founded in its place. (Recommendation 2)

  9.  A Memorandum setting out the government's conclusion on the Committee's recommendation is attached at Annex B. Major stakeholders were consulted; opinion sampling has been carried out. The conclusion is that there is no enthusiasm for change; the government does not propose to take the matter further.

DIVERSITY AND PUBLIC AWARENESS

  10.  In its report on the reform of the honours system, the government agreed that more needed to be done to increase awareness (PASC Recommendations 14 & 15).

  11.  As the Committee is aware, the Cabinet Office launched a publicity campaign "Do the Honours" in January 2006 to encourage more nominations for women. Leaflets were sent to public libraries, citizen's advice bureaux and post offices throughout the country. The website was improved, including an electronic version of the nomination form. The new honours committees have been working to encourage a more diverse spread of nominations. Further work is in hand with the Commission for Racial Equality to raise awareness of the honours system amongst ethnic minority groups.

  12.  In order to help increase understanding of what can seem a complicated system, the Cabinet Office has produced a flow chart (copy at Annex C) showing the various processes involved in the consideration of a nomination for an honour.

  13.  In its review, the Committee believed that existing holders of awards and future recipients would welcome the opportunity to wear a small badge or emblem on non-formal dress and recommended this be introduced (Recommendation 17). The government accepted this and agreed to look into the options and to consult interested parties.

  14.  The principle of a button-hole badge has now been agreed. Work is in hand on the possible design and manufacture of such an emblem. A public announcement will be made as soon as possible.

POLICY DEVELOPMENTS

  15.  The major policy development since February 2005 has been the Prime Minister's announcement on 23 March 2006 that he would no longer exercise his right as Prime Minister to nominate individuals directly for honours. His principal involvement in honours in the future will be in setting the strategic policy framework. This will involve the Prime Minister giving a remit to the independent committees as to the general direction of policy, including priority areas for recognition. In practical terms this means that the list submitted to The Queen by the Prime Minister will be the list agreed by the Main Honours Committee. The Prime Minister will forward the list to The Queen without amendment. In accordance with the Prime Minister's decision, the No 10 Appointments Secretary has ceased to be a member of the Main Honours Committee and the specialist honours committes.

CABINET SECRETARY'S ROLE

  16.  The Committee will recall that the Cabinet Secretary chairs the Main Honours Committee. This brings together the work of the eight specialist committees. Other members are the eight chairs of the specialist committees, the Chief of Defence Staff, the Permanent Secretary, Foreign and Commonwealth Office and another Permanent Secretary (presently Sir David Normington of the Home Office). The committee reviews the work of the sub-committees, reassesses any sensitive or controversial recommendations or omissions and seeks to ensure that the balance between the various sectors is satisfactory. It agrees the list of candidates to be recommended by the Cabinet Secretary, as chair of the Committee, to the Prime Minister.

  17.  Until the 23 March announcement, the next step would have been for the Prime Minister to consider the proposals and discuss them with the Cabinet Secretary. At that stage, in line with practice over successive administrations, the Prime Minister might suggest the addition of some names which had not come forward through the committee system. If he did so the names (at any level from MBE upwards) would be submitted to HOLAC for consideration. The role of the Commission is to decide whether there is anything in the past history or character of individuals which might render them unsuitable for an award. HOLAC took over this role in 2005 from the Honours Scrutiny Committee, which has been disbanded. This was reported in Cm 6479.

SUBMISSION TO THE QUEEN

  18.  Notwithstanding that the Prime Minister has said that he will not change the recommendations put to him by the Main Honours Committee, it remains his responsibility to submit the proposals for honours to The Queen. This will continue.

TEAM AWARDS

  19.  The Committee proposed the introduction of collegiate honours (Recommendation 18).The government is looking carefully at this suggestion. A number of practical difficulties arise. A decision will be reached shortly and an announcement made.

May 2006

Annex A

Committee Composition

BY NAMED INDIVIDUALS

ARTS AND MEDIA


Independent Chair
Lord Rothschild
Permanent Secretary (Department for Culture, Media and Sport) Dame Sue Street
Permanent Secretary (Scottish Executive) John Elvidge
Non-civil service membersJenny Abramsky
John Gross
Ben Okri
Andreas Whittam Smith


Total 7

SPORT


Independent Chair
Lord MacLaurin
Permanent Secretary (Department for Culture, Media and Sport) Dame Sue Street
Permanent Secretary (National Assembly for Wales) Sir Jon Shortridge
Non-civil service membersDame Tanni Grey Thompson
Tony Lewis
Ian McGeechan
Sir Matthew Pinsent
Tessa Sanderson
Sir Bobby Robson


Total 9

HEALTH


Independent Chair
Dame Carol Black
Permanent Secretary (Department of Health) Hugh Taylor (Acting)
Chief Medical Officer (England)Sir Liam Donaldson
Chief Medical Officer (N.Ireland)Cover by CMO (Wales) Ann Lloyd
Chief Nurse—ScotlandPaul Martin
Non-civil service membersSir Netar Mallick
Dame Karlene Davis
Professor Mansel Aylward
Niall Dickson
Professor Anthony Newman Taylor
Professor Irene Scott
Neil McKay


Total 12

EDUCATION


Independent Chair
Dame Alexandra Burslem
Permanent Secretary (Department for Education and Skills) David Bell
Permanent Secretary (Northern Ireland Executive) Nigel Hamilton
Non-civil service membersProfessor Sir George Bain
John Anderson
James Gillard
Professor Ludmilla Jordanova
Sir Mike Tomlinson
Mary Oliver


Total 9

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY


Independent Chair
Lord May
Permanent Secretary (Department of Trade and Industry) Sir Brian Bender
Chief Scientific AdviserSir David King
Non- civil service membersProfessor Sir Richard Brook
Professor Sir Partha Dasgupta
Professor Dame Julia Higgins
Rob Margetts
Professor Noreen Murray


Total 8

ECONOMY


Independent Chair
Sir John Collins
Permanent Secretary (HM Treasury)Nicholas Macpherson
Permanent Secretary (Department of Trade and Industry) Sir Brian Bender
Permanent Secretary (Department for Culture, Media and Sport) Dame Sue Street
Permanent Secretary (Scottish Executive) John Elvidge
Non-civil service membersDame Steve Shirley
Rob Margetts
Rosemarie Harris
Christopher Hyman
Peter Chappelow
David Thomas


Total 11

COMMUNITY, VOLUNTARY AND LOCAL SERVICE


Independent Chair
Lord Newton
Permanent Secretary (Home Office)Sir David Normington
Permanent Secretary (Office of the Deputy Prime Minister) Peter Housden
Permanent Secretary (Department for Education and Skills) David Bell
Permanent Secretary (Department for Constitutional Affairs) Alex Allan
Permanent Secretary (Northern Ireland Office) Jonathan Phillips
Non-civil service membersMohammed Aziz
Sir Jeremy Beecham
Stephen Bubb
Christine Harris
Professor Ted Milburn
Elspeth Mitcheson
Richard Temple Cox
Mary Thomas


Total 14

STATE


Independent Chair
Sir David Cooksey
Cabinet SecretarySir Gus O'Donnell
Permanent Secretary DCAAlex Allan
Non-civil service membersMohammed Aziz
Dame Jessica Rawson
Sir Michael Tomlinson

Total 6

Cabinet Office

May 2006

Annex B

HONOURS: FUTURE OF THE ORDER OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE

NOTE BY THE CABINET OFFICE

  1.  In its Report "A Matter of Honour: Reforming the Honours System" (HC212-I), the Public Administration Select Committee (PASC) recommended (Para 153) that:

    "There should be no further appointments to the Order of the British Empire. A new Order, the Order of British Excellence, should be founded in its place".

  2.  In its reply to the Committee (Reform of the Honours System, Cm 6479) the government said:

    "The government has considered [these recommendations] carefully.

    The Government believes that the Order of the British Empire continues to play a well-understood—and in terms of numbers—predominant role in the honours system. It was founded in 1917 in order to make space within the honours system for those who had made important contributions to sustaining the life of the nation during the war. It has developed and matured in scope and recognition. There are currently some 120,000 men and women members of the Order and normally around 1150—1200 are appointed at each honours round . . .

    The government does not believe the case has been made for change to the Order of the British Empire. It is regarded with affection and respect by very many people, not only in the United Kingdom. But the government is conscious that for some the title of the Order of the British Empire feels anachronistic in a different sense to other historic titles. The government will consider the matter further, without prejudice as to whether there should be any change."

  3.  The government has now concluded its examination of the matter.

  4.  We have consulted the Officers of the Order; they do not see the need for change. They believe that the enthusiasm of new members and the dedication to the Order of existing members (witnessed by the several hundreds who filled St Paul's Cathedral at the 4-yearly Service of Remembrance in 2004) give no cause to suggest that change is necessary. A change could not be embarked upon without a major exercise in public consultation.

  5.  Before embarking on such an exercise, which would be time consuming and expensive, the Government has carried out some opinion polling to establish whether there is a real public desire for change, and whether, if there were to be change, there is agreement as to the likely candidates to replace the Order of the British Empire.

  6.  The results of the survey, undertake by RSEB in August 2005 are enclosed. The main points of the findings are:

    (a)  47% thought that the title of the Order of the British Empire reflects our nation's history and should be retained;

    (b)  15% thought that the title of the Order was inappropriate in post Empire times and should be replaced;

    (c)  38% had no opinion either way;

    (d)  If there was to be a change, there was no clear favourite as to a new name. When names were suggested the main preferences were:

        —  Should remain the same—OBE—39%;

        —  Order of the United Kingdom—13%;

        —  Order of British Excellence—9%;

        —  Order of Honour 8%.

  7.  The retention of the status quo was favoured most by people aged 65+ (53%) and by social groups AB and C1 (49%). Those most in favour of change came from age groups 55-64 in social group AB. The largest group with no opinion (59%) was age group 16-24.

  8.  Of non-white responders:

    —  61% had no opinion on the Order as a whole;

    —  23% thought that the status quo should remain;

    —  13% preferred the Order of the United Kingdom as a replacement.

  9.  The largest groups believing that the title of the Order was inappropriate and should be replaced were:

    —  Northern Ireland (23%);

    —  London (20%).

  10.  In the light of these findings, the government has concluded that the case for a change to the Order of the British Empire has not been made. It therefore does not propose to take the matter further.

Cabinet Office

May 2006





 
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