Civil Service Local East, South-East and London (ESEL), the Civil Service Race Forum and the Cabinet Office’s Honours and Appointments Secretariat are pleased to invite you to an event on the honours system to mark Black History Month.

Join us on 25 October 2021 to hear directly from those who are ‘proud to be’ honours recipients about their experiences of being awarded an honour and why it’s important to recognise those in our workplaces and communities who are making an exceptional contribution. The century’s old honours system has evolved to be more democratic, transparent and representative of UK society with 15% of recipients coming from a Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic background in the most recent Queen’s Birthday Honours List. But there’s still more that can be done to make sure that the honours system is inclusive of all UK citizens.

Why join us?

You will hear from Black civil servants who have been awarded honours about their experiences as well as how to make a nomination for someone who is going above and beyond in their work.

What is the honours system?

The honours system celebrates the people who go over and above to change the world around them for the better. The system recognises the people who have:

selflessly volunteered their time and efforts;
gained the respect of their peers;
displayed moral and physical courage; or showed real innovation and entrepreneurship.

Anyone can nominate someone for an honour. The nomination needs to show how the person has gone above and beyond and made an exceptional contribution to their community, workplace or country.

Civil servants are just one of the groups of people who receive honours annually. Honours are bestowed on civil servants for a number of reasons - from creating and leading a staff network to delivering on a major government project that affects millions of people. This event will highlight the diversity of contribution from those who are awarded honours.

Our speakers:

You will hear firsthand from four honours recipients about what being awarded an honour means to them. They include:

Bernadette Thompson OBE, Deputy Director at Department for Levelling up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC)
Carol Bernard CBE, Director at Cabinet Office
Dr Austin Entonu MBE, Head of Fiscal Policy Strategy at Department of Business Energy & Industrial Strategy
Dr Philip Orumwense CBE, Director at Crown Commercial Service

Hosted by Justin Placide, Assistant Director at at ‎Department of Business Energy & Industrial Strategy.

Civil Service Local are committed to ensuring that wherever possible our events are accessible to all participants. If you have any specific requirements that will enable you to fully participate, please let us know and we will endeavour to make any reasonable adjustments.

Black History Month 2021: ‘Proud to be’ honours recipients