Honours and Appointments Secretariat

1. Honours and Appointments Secretariat A MATTER OF HONOUR

4. Here’s the real scandal!

5. Today’s Presentation • Background to the Honours System • Who gets honours? • And how can we make sure that the right people do? • How to nominate

6. 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

7. 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

8. Honours Lists • Two lists per year: Birthday and New Year • Several elements: • Prime Minister’s list (up to 1300 names) • Defence Secretary’s list (200 names) • Foreign Secretary’s list (150 names) • Others (Privy Counsellors, The Queen’s personal list, some overseas countries) • This presentation focuses on PM’s list

9. 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.

10. 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.

11. 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

12. ANNEX 1

13. 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

14. 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)

15. Who’s missing? • Women • Ethnic minorities • Entrepreneurs • Philanthropists • The retail sector • Technology • And we need more strong MBE and BEM candidates – including young people

16. Women are under-represented • Women have never made up more than 47% of the list. • At The Queen’s Birthday 2012, the proportion dropped to only 41%.

17. It’s 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.

18. We need more women to submit nominations Nominators of female Candidates Nominators of male Candidates

19. 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?

20. 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? Don’t just produce a CV or job description!

21. Where do I start? • Download a nomination pack from www.gov.uk/honours or telephone 020 7276 2777 • 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 Rutland’s Honours Advisory Panel to review your Citation before it is submitted to the Cabinet Office, please email to khaworth@rutland.gov.uk who will forward to a member of the panel for an overview.