Honours still being awarded to "usual suspects" say MPs

The Commons Public Administration Select Committee says reform is needed to create an honours system befitting community achievements. Credit: ITV Calendar

Too many honours are awarded to politicians, celebrities and civil servants rather than to people who devote time and effort to their local communities, MPs said today.

The Commons Public Administration Select Committee, which includes two Yorkshire MPs, called for a radical overhaul of the system and condemned the granting of knighthoods to businessmen and senior officials for simply "doing the day job".

It called for the creation of an independent honours commission to oversee the system and said that in future, more detailed citations should be published for honours awarded at the level of CBE and above in order to help counter concerns they reward donations to political parties.

But the Cabinet Office denied the honours were dominated by politicians and celebrities, with 72% of the awards in the last honours list going to people who were actively involved in charitable or voluntary work.