Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what changes have been made to the processes for appointing the membership of the honours committees since the dissolution of the last Parliament.

Appointments to the ten independent honours committees are not ministerial or regulated public appointments and are not on the Public Appointments Order in Council. Honours committee appointments have always been made through fair and open competition with appointments made on merit, in line with the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments's (OCPA) best practice. However, they are not bound by OCPA codes as they are not regulated public appointments.

Under the previous administration, between August 2022 and September 2024, the Prime Minister was responsible for making committee appointments, with advice from the Head of the Civil Service. This was a novel and significant introduction of ministerial involvement in honours.

In September 2024, the HD Committee made a recommendation to His Majesty the King to return control over the appointment of independent honours committee members to the Head of the Civil Service to insure political independence of process. This process was approved by His Majesty the King in September 2024. This means that under the current administration, the Head of the Civil Service is responsible for oversight of the honours system and is the appointing authority for all independent honours committee appointments. The Prime Minister is informed of all honours committee appointments once approved by the Head of the Civil Service.