I think it was Anthony Sampson, in his book An Anatomy of Britain [Great book], who said.

'In America, a rich butter and eggs man, is just a rich butter and eggs man. Although he may be awarded an LLD by some hungry university. Whereas in England, he would be Sir Benjamin Buttery Bart.'

We love titles here, and they give them out for almost anything. It has now reached the stage where they mean nothing.
In the same way as Henry Kissinger being awarded a Nobel Peace Prize, appeared to Tom Lehrer to signal the death of satire. So in Britain the final nail in the coffin of the Honours system, was the awarding of a baronetcy, to a man who can hardly string two coherent words together.

In the higher echelons of the Civil Service, you get an award, because it's your turn, and for no other valid reason.