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The Missing Link (at the Cabinet Office)
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Post The Missing Link (at the Cabinet Office) 
Once upon a time there was a paper. It was the "Honours Reform Command Paper".

It was on display via the Cabinet Office 'Honours' page.

That report looked into the integrity (or lack of it) of the British honours system. On page 4, as I recollect, Sir Hayden Phillips states:

"Those who chair the specialist committees which advise on recommendations [for honours and awards] should be independent of Government and the Civil Service to encourage a more open and independent system."

Now then, G.o.D. (the most senior Civil Servant) chairs the HD Committee, the 8-member group of Civil Servants that Parliament wants to make accountable to the directly elected Commons.

But Gus O'Donnell is also the Cabinet Secretary (he is to Mr Brown what Odd Job was to Goldfinger ... well, sort of).

And the Minister responsible for the Cabinet Office is Ed Miliband. It would be he who each year, if Parliament gets its way, would have to try and explain the inexplicable to the Commons - i.e. the inexplicable work of the HD Committee.

And the Cabinet Office Minister and member of the Cabinet, Ed Miliband, has a brother in the Cabinet who is another Minister. GB's close friend, David Miliband, who is the Foreign Secretary responsible for the PJM.

So will GoD bubble Ed and in so doing drop Ed's brother David in the cart and thus bring shame on the PM as the HD Committee did on the country (Parliament said that, not me).

Or should GoD step down as chair of the HD Committee and let another person administer an independent influence on the HD Committee? Perhaps then there would no longer be any basis for bubbling anyone.

Hmmm ... what on earth could Sir Hayden Phillips have been hinting at?

Nah ... surely not!

But then the paper has disappeared ...

Barry

PS If anyone does trace that document, please let me know. It was originally at http://www.honours.gov.uk/upload/assets/www.honours.gov.uk/honours_reform_command_paper.pdf.


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http://www.google.com/search?q="Those+who+chair+the+specialist+committees+which+advise+on+recommendations+[for+honours+and+awards]+should+be+independent+of+Government+and+the+Civil+Service+to+encourage+a+more+open+and+independent+system."&rls=com.microsoft:*:IE-Address&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=ie7&rlz=1I7ADBF


Difficult to download it Barry although it is a PDF file, can you do a screen grab?

Better say it is Crown Copyright

This is the html version of the file http://www.honours.gov.uk/~/media/assets/www.honours.gov.uk/honours_reform_command_paper%20pdf.ashx.
G o o g l e automatically generates html versions of documents as we crawl the web.
To link to or bookmark this page, use the following url: http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:wu689aP3XXYJ:www.honours.gov.uk/~/media/assets/www.honours.gov.uk/honours_reform_command_paper%2520pdf.ashx+%22Those+who+chair+the+specialist+committees+which+advise+on+recommendations+%5Bfor+honours+and+awards%5D+should+be+independent+of+Government+and+the+Civil+Service+to+encourage+a+more+open+and+independent+system.%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2


Google is neither affiliated with the authors of this page nor responsible for its content.
These terms only appear in links pointing to this page: those who chair the specialist committees which advise on recommendations for honours and awards should be independent of government and the civil service to encourage a more open and independent system


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Reform of the Honours SystemISBN 0-10-164792-19 780101 647922Published by TSO (The Stationery Office) and available from:Onlinewww.tso.co.uk/bookshopMail, Telephone, Fax & E-mailTSOPO Box 29, Norwich NR3 1GNTelephone orders/General enquiries: 0870 600 5522Order through the Parliamentary Hotline Lo-call 0845 7 023474Fax orders: 0870 600 5533E-mail: book.orders@tso.co.ukTextphone 0870 240 3701 TSO Shops123 Kingsway, London WC2B 6PQ020 7242 6393 Fax 020 7242 639468-69 Bull Street, Birmingham B4 6AD0121 236 9696 Fax 0121 236 96999-21 Princess Street, Manchester M60 8AS0161 834 7201 Fax 0161 833 063416 Arthur Street, Belfast BT1 4GD028 9023 8451 Fax 028 9023 540118-19 High Street, Cardiff CF10 1PT029 2039 5548 Fax 029 2038 434771 Lothian Road, Edinburgh EH3 9AZ0870 606 5566 Fax 0870 606 5588TSO Accredited Agents(see Yellow Pages)and through good booksellersCM6479 Report Cover2 19/2/05 7:22 AM Page 1
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Reform of the Honours SystemCabinet OfficeCm 6479£6.50Presented to Parliament by the Prime Minister, by Command of Her Majesty -February 2005Cm6479 CO 19/2/05 7:43 AM Page 1
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Crown Copyright 2005The text in this document (excluding the Royal Arms and departmental logos) may be reproduced free of charge in anyformat or medium providing that it is reproduced accurately and not used in a misleading context. The material mustbe acknowledged as Crown copyright and the title of the document specified.Any enquiries relating to the copyright in this document should be addressed to The Licensing Division, HMSO,St Clements House, 2-16 Colegate, Norwich, NR3 1BQ. Fax: 01603 723000 or e-mail: licensing@cabinet-office.x.gsi.gov.ukCm6479 CO 19/2/05 7:43 AM Page 2
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Page 4
REVIEW OF THE HONOURS SYSTEM3Government ResponsesThe Government welcomes the reports by thePublic Administration Select Committee (PASC)and Sir Hayden Phillips into this important subject.The Government believes that the honours systemcontinues to play an important and valued part inthe life of the nation. The arrangements haveevolved over centuries, but the continuing themehas been the wish to recognise exceptional serviceand achievement and to show gratitude publicly.Honours are valued highly by the recipients, andalso by their families, friends and localcommunities.Nevertheless, the Government is aware that thereare concerns. Some of these have beenarticulated by PASC in their report. Others havebeen identified and reported by Sir HaydenPhillips, who was invited by Sir Andrew Turnbull,the Cabinet Secretary, to review the currentsystem to ensure that it is fair, and to makeproposals for making it more accessible to thepopulation as a whole. Both PASC and Sir Hayden Phillips have concludedthat improvements can be made. In this note, wedescribe the conclusions we have reached aftercareful consideration of the recommendations,and describe the ways in which the work to makechanges will be taken forward. The Government believes that it is right to re-affirm its belief that the honours system isoperated by public servants and others who takethe work forward in the best traditions of publicservice and probity. The changes which webelieve should be made are proposed in order toimprove and bring in line with modernexpectations a system which is fundamentallysound.As to the contrasting approaches of the tworeports, the Government accepts Sir HaydenPhillips’ view that the important matters to beaddressed in looking at reform of the honourssystem are not those of the outward trappings orits history. They are rather whether the balance ofawards feels fair, whether the right processes arethere to support it, and whether it is open andcommands confidence while properly protectingconfidentiality. The Government believes that SirHayden’s proposals set out a pragmaticprogramme of change which will address theseissues head on. The Government intends toimplement these proposals as quickly as possible.The intention is that the new honours committeeshe recommends will be in place in time to deliverthe honours list for New Year 2006.The Government’s responses to the two reportsare given below.Section 1Overview and Performance ReportReview of the Honours SystemReport to the Secretary of the Cabinet bySir Hayden Phillips“A Matter of Honour” – Reforming the Honours System (HC 212-I)Report by the Public Administration Select CommmitteeCm6479 CO 19/2/05 7:43 AM Page 3


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Post Confused.CoN 
Thanks to John for doing the Google bit - and thanks also to Tony Davies for sending me a copy of the PDF, being the full report. It can be read/downloaded from the link at the foot of this page but it is a llarge document c. 700MB. With the PDF to hand, Admin has shortened John's excellent post above.

When reading the report, note the date ... February 2005 ... the month the Malaysians tried to offer the PJM to the UK.

Also, this document is about Honours, but the concept of independence, evenhandedness, considtency and openness applies to all awards.

Now ... my problem is that the bit I saw a year or so ago and have quoted above is not in the published report! If you Goolge my quote as John did (omit the explanatory bit in square brackets), you will come up with a number of traces which prove my extract once existed ... but the original source document does not seem to have survived! What happened to it???

Anyway, read the 2005 Recommendations. Here are some key ones:

1. In future honours should not be conferred simply because somebody holds a post ... errr what happened to that one Mr C Edge OBE and Sir Sir Sir Baron the Lord Robin Janvrin?

4. The Commission should look at the Australian system and consider adopting the same methodology for greater diversity.

6. Members of the Honours Commission should be appointed independently and should reflect the diversity of the country.

7. Names of members should be published as should their policy on transparency based on best practise in other countries.

11. More recommendations to follow the Australian example on Honours to reflect more awards at local (rather than national) level.

12. Honours Commission should submit an annual report to Parliament and that it should be examined by a Commons Select Committee! Must send that one to Don Touhig!

16. The Citations for all Honours should be published.


Other points accepted by the Government cover:

Transparency
Publicising how the system works
Honours Committees should contain a majority of non-civil service experts
Committees should have non-civil service chairs


I emphasise that this report is about individual Honours, but the same principals should apply across the Honours system. If they were to be imposed on the Honours and Decorations Committee which breaks just about every recommendation, then issues like the PJM, and civil servants not being accountable, and the Committee embarrassing the Queen and bringing shame on our country would be eliminated.

All the above is my opinion only, of course. My intention is not to put a different slant on the aims or recommendations of this excellent report which should be read per se, but only to demonstrate that there are significant benefits to extending many of the recommendations to the Honours and Decorations Committee.

Barry

Here is the report (650MB):

http://www.fight4thepjm.org/documents/honours_reform_command_paper.pdf


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If this was recorded via Hansard there should be a copy of the 'original' in The House of Commons Library, Barry.

Or are we saying that surreptitious hands have been at work?


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John Cooper wrote:
If this was recorded via Hansard there should be a copy of the 'original' in The House of Commons Library, Barry.

Or are we saying that surreptitious hands have been at work?


I do not think anything dodgy has happened. My quote was probably a forerunner to the full report in which the issues in my quote are not only addressed but accepted by Government.

My point in starting this thread is to underline the fact that the HD Committee places itself above the recommendations in this report.

More importantly the report, and the fact that the HD Committee and those running it still operate in secret and fan their noses at Parliament, emphasise the relevance of Don Touhig's Rule Bill calling for the unelected members of HD Committee (and those writing their scripts) to be made accountable to the directly elected House of Commons ... in line with other parts of the British democratic system.

Barry


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