§ Mr. Bob RussellTo ask the Prime Minister how many United Kingdom nominations his office received for New Year and Birthday Honours in 1998; and how many United Kingdom honours were awarded in(a) the 1998 Birthday List and (b) the 1999 New Year List. [65905]
§ The Prime MinisterIn 1998 the Nominations Unit received 3,500 new honours nominations from members of the public and my office received some 4,000 nominations from Departments (most proposed by national bodies, associations and voluntary organisations) for consideration in the 1998 Honours Lists. The number of awards in my Honours List covering the whole range of activities in the United Kingdom made at(a) Birthday 1998 and at (b) New Year 1999 was 983. In both Lists, over 40 per cent. of the awards resulted from nominations made by members of the public. However, as it takes up to a year, and in some cases longer, for nominations to be fully validated and assessed, it is not possible to relate the number of nominations received in any one year to the number of candidates considered for particular Honours Lists.