THE GOVERNMENT has agreed to monitor the regional and class background of those receiving honours in the Queen’s birthday list due to a question by a Barnsley MP.
The concession from the government comes after Barnsley East MP Stephanie Peacock forced a cabinet office minister to admit that until now it had not undertaken any checks to ensure the honours list was representative./
The result stems from the Labour politician’s campaign on this issue, following concerns that people from working class backgrounds and communities outside London and the South were underrepresented in the honours systems./
Currently the government has made no attempt to assess whether people from these areas are adequately included in the honours list.
In their announcement of the 1,073 recipients of the 2019 honours, whilst reference was made to characteristics such as gender - region or class, background was not mentioned.
The admission also raises questions about representation of ethnic minorities, with only one-in-ten of those awarded an honour in 2019 from ethnic minority backgrounds./
The Cabinet Office has now committed to collect the socio-economic and regional background of recipients from 2020.
“Without any record of the class and regional make-up of the Honours List, we simply have no way of knowing whether people in towns like Barnsley are losing out to those in London,” she said.
“The government should immediately set about ensuring the honours system works to give recognition to deserving people everywhere, not just a privileged few.”
