Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department has issued guidance on whether breaching the Business Appointment Rules is grounds for consideration by the Forfeiture Committee for the revocation of an honour.

Honours, by their very nature, are a form of recognition for creditable actions or service by an individual. The Forfeiture Committee considers cases put to it when the holder of an honour may be deemed to have brought the honours system into disrepute. This might include being found guilty of a criminal offence, behaviour which results in censure by a regulatory or a professional body, or any other behaviour that is deemed to bring the honours system into disrepute.

The Cabinet Office provides wide-ranging guidance relating to the handling of potential forfeiture cases to all government departments. Each case is considered individually.