§ Lord Killearnasked Her Majesty's Government:
How many of our Heads of Mission accredited to foreign states have not been honoured with the dignity of knighthood; whether it is considered that in present conditions and the historical context it is seemly that any representatives of Her Majesty or Her Majesty's Government should be seen as not having been so honoured; and whether, if the statutes of the Most Distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George (or the number of available stalls in that order's chapel in St. Paul's Cathedral) are in any way a limiting factor, this should not be overcome by altering the statutes (adopting a larger chapel) or by conferring other forms of knighthood.
§ Baroness YoungSeventy-two British Ambassadors and 31 British High Commissioners are currently neither knights nor dames. In present conditions it is neither unseemly, nor indeed unusual, that a British Head of Mission should be without an honour at this level. Accordingly, the question of amending the statutes of the Most Distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George, or of conferring other forms of knighthood, does not arise.