woopert
LE
This is a tricky one because the aim here is to ensure that one award ie the MBE is suitable for the majority
Ergo my comment. I cannot give any conclusive indication as to whether the total amount of MBEs being handed out to field officers who would have been awarded it under the old system plus a quantity of MBEs matching the number of BEMs that were awarded to ORs is the same as the number of MBE and BEM awards in the past ("old MBE"+BEM="New MBE")? I can say that without the division of awards the perception is that the bulk are going to field officers and that the ORs are not getting the same slice of the awards "cake" that they used to get when they were awarded BEMs. (If this makes sense, it does to me, but I have had a few beers and right now aliens landing in my back garden would make sense! I digress.)
My point is that perhaps doing away with the BEM leads to the perception of a dis-service whether or not that is true.