Basingstoke ObserverBASINGSTOKE MP Maria Miller is among those honoured in the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Honours List, being made a Dame of the British Empire.
Commenting on the accolade, Maria said: “It is very exciting to have been included in the Birthday Honours List marking Her Majesty The Queen’s historic Platinum Jubliee. I have had the good fortune to work with incredibly talented people in Basingstoke, Parliament and as a Government Minister. I am particularly pleased that this honour recognises the importance of work done to make our country a more equal place for everyone. It is so important to give people respect and the same opportunity to succeed.
I was born in a council house and went to my local comprehensive school in South Wales. I learnt how to work hard from my parents. But becoming a Member of Parliament, and receiving an Honour from the Queen was never on my radar. It is an absolute privilege to represent my community in the House of Commons.
I look forward to continuing the work I am doing to help make Basingstoke, and our country more widely, a place where we all have the opportunity to succeed in life regardless of where we were born, our sex, gender, sexuality, disability or ethnicity.”
Receiving the award for Parliamentary and Public Service, Maria has been the MP for Basingstoke since 2005 and served on the Conservative Party frontbench, in both opposition and in Government, from soon after being elected until 2014. She then chaired the Women and Equalities Select Committee from its formation in June 2015 until November 2019. She was appointed Minister for Disabled People in the Coalition Government in May 2010 and was later promoted to Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, and Minister for Women and Equalities, serving from 2012-14. She was instrumental in introducing legislation for same-sex marriage in England and Wales, and successfully piloted this historic bill through the House of Commons; one of the most notable achievements of the Coalition Government. Since leaving the front bench in 2014, she has continued to lead work (both within Parliament and outside) on equalities, disability and culture.
Indraprasad (known as Indra) Limbu Broadcast Technician, British receives the British Empire Medal for services to UK forces welfare through television and radio broadcasting in Afghanistan.
From December 2008 to May 2021, Indra was deployed to Afghanistan for a total of 2,462 days to support BFBS TV and radio services for Operation HERRICK and Operation TORAL.
Indra said: “I am very honoured to receive this award and I am grateful to BFBS for providing an opportunity to support our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
I would like to thank my family, especially my wife, for supporting me on many years of deployment tours in operational areas.”
David Ramsay, BFBS’ Head of International Operations, added: “Often operating in austere and hazardous conditions, Indra selflessly delivered an outstanding service to ensure television and radio services were available at multiple locations across Helmand province.
To provide these essential services, he lived a peripatetic lifestyle, travelling extensively across Helmand province to provide the services that kept British troops informed and entertained, providing that vital link with home. It is safe to say that troop morale was always far higher after his visit, than it had been before.”
A fellow BEM recipient is Basingstoke’s Susan Hill, Training Unit Manager, Metropolitan Police Service, for services to Policing.
Susan celebrated fifty years’ service with the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) in 2021. She joined the MPS in 1971 as support staff at sixteen years old within the Organised Crime Command, becoming one of the first civilian administration clerks to join a Specialist Unit.
She has provided critical support to combat organised crime and worked with counter terrorism (CT) for over three decades. She worked extensively to transfer paper records onto IT systems and progressed to becoming an analyst. She was instrumental in setting up welfare and counselling sessions via Occupational Health services. This work formed the basis given to the MPS after the 2005 London bombings.
Susan performed a dual role as HR Manager and in the CT Operations Room, managing deployments during the terrorist attacks and high-profile investigations. This methodology has been applied into ‘real time support’ to all live operations and executive action, matching resource demands across the Command for all CT operations, both during business as usual and in crises. This way of working now serves as the template for operational support to all live London CT operations, ensuring that the variety of specialist resources needed to manage a CT investigation are effectively coordinated across multiple locations.
Susan has made contributions to the development and organisation of the Senior Investigating Officer Counter terrorism course, researching and developing the course to include an exam, and ensuring compliance with College of Policing standards. She has overseen the training and development of hundreds of officers, ensuring the capability exists to manage the most extreme threats and high-risk investigations. She organises for the training to be regularly delivered to SIOs visiting from abroad. She has created and spread good practice not only in London, but nationally, putting in place structures and personnel to meet the challenges of counter terrorism.
Emma Noyce, Hampshire County Council’s Assistant Director of Culture and Information Services, has also been awarded a British Empire Medal in The Queen’s Jubilee Honours in recognition of her role in how public libraries supported communities throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Leader of Hampshire County Council, Councillor Rob Humby, said: “Many congratulations to Emma for this Jubilee Honour, which reflects the vital role that Hampshire’s libraries played during the coronavirus pandemic under her leadership. Our public libraries continuously adapted to the changing circumstances. Emma and her team ensured that residents in Hampshire could continue to access books, magazines and other popular library services whether in digital form, or by using the popular Ready Reads initiative at their library’s front door. They also provided support to our most vulnerable residents, through the hundreds of befriending calls made by the Home Library Service and by providing safe access to public IT so that people could still access vital information, find employment or apply for benefits. Libraries even adapted to offer space for testing and vaccination centres in their buildings. The support they provided was an inspiration - and this is a very well-deserved award for Emma, who led the way.”
Emma Noyce shared: “I am proud to accept this honour on behalf of all my colleagues in Hampshire County Council who have worked so hard over the last two years to support and protect our communities. Throughout the pandemic, colleagues across the Council have been united by a common purpose; to do everything they possibly can to support Hampshire’s residents – particularly the most vulnerable. Hampshire County Council is a fantastic place to work, and I am privileged to be surrounded by such talented and committed people – I dedicate this award to all of them and particularly my colleagues in the Library Service for all they have achieved.”
Other local recipients included Hartley Wintney’s Vanessa Ann MacDougall Lately Director, International Economics Unit and the G7 Taskforce, Cabinet Office who was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire for Public Service and Basingstoke’s Emily Jane Arbuthnot Peritoneal Malignancy Institute Manager, Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust who was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire for services to the NHS.
