New Year Honours: Katherine Jenkins 'humbled' by OBE

Singer Katherine Jenkins said she is "incredibly humbled" to become an OBE in the New Year Honours for her services to music and charity.

Other Welsh awards include Welsh assembly Presiding Officer Rosemary Butler, who is made a Dame.

Gavin and Stacey comedy writer and actress Ruth Jones described her MBE as "proper tidy".

Former BBC Wales head Geraint Talfan Davies becomes an OBE and Wales' top civil servant Derek Jones is knighted.

The Welsh government's permanent secretary is appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB).

Neath-born soprano Katherine Jenkins, 32, who has sold millions of albums, is honoured partly for her charity work.

Under Ms Butler's leadership, the assembly is one of the top 10 family friendly places to work

In March, she raised at least £25,000 for Macmillan Cancer Support by running the London Marathon.

It was in aid of a charity whose nurses helped her father Selwyn before he died of lung cancer when she was 15.

She flew to Camp Bastion in Afghanistan last month to meet the troops and perform two special concerts for UK service personnel.

Ms Jenkins said: "I am incredibly humbled to receive this great honour.

"To accept such an award after only a decade of service to music and charity, comes as a wonderful surprise.

"I share this award with the charitable bodies I am so privileged to work with, especially to those brave service men and women who risk so much for us all on a daily basis."

Presiding Officer Ms Butler becomes a dame in the New Year Honour's List for her work promoting the Welsh assembly's diversity.

The Newport West AM's work has seen the assembly named as one of the top 10 family-friendly places to work in the UK.

She said: "I've been in politics for 40 years and been in the assembly for 13 of those. During that time I've seen a shift in how women are regarded but they are still not able to take advantage of the opportunities that there are.

"If the Suffragettes from 100 years ago were alive now I'd think they'd say 'well done girls, but there is still a long way to go'"

Ms Butler, 70, was elected presiding officer in 2011.

Her promotion of diversity includes the Women in Public Life Campaign - #POWiPL - that saw her named Devolved Parliament or Assembly Member of the Year, at the annual Women in Public Life awards in London.

Welsh government permanent secretary Derek Jones heads the 5,000-strong civil service in Wales responsible for carrying out ministers' policies.

Sir Derek said: 'For me personally, it is obviously a great honour to have this recognition.

"But I think it is also a recognition of the hard work done by many others who I have worked alongside, both in government and elsewhere, to help make Wales as prosperous and fair a country as it can be."

Cardiff-based actress and writer Ruth Jones this year won a Bafta Cymru for scripting the Valleys-based television comedy Stella but she is perhaps best known as co-writer and performer in the BBC hit comedy Gavin and Stacey.

Jones played Nessa, best friend of Stacey, in the three series story of the romance between a Barry girl and an Essex boy. Her award is for services to entertainment.

Bridgend-born Jones described her MBE as "proper tidy".

"Apparently great uncle Leslie got an OBE in the '40s and uncle Jack the fireman got one in the '60s. So I'm keeping up with the Joneses, ha ha," she added.

She told BBC News she "can't quite get her head around it" and had kept it secret for a long time.

Jones joked: "Are there any special powers you get?"

"You're being paid a huge compliment. I'm very shocked and delighted."

Geraint Talfan Davies is chair of Welsh National Opera and chair and a co-founder of think-tank the Institute of Welsh Affairs (IWA). He was BBC Wales controller from 1990-2000.

Former chairman of Arts Council Wales, Mr Talfan Davies, of Cardiff, has also served as a board member of the Wales Millennium Centre and the Artes Mundi prize and as a governor of Welsh College of Music and Drama.

He is given an OBE for his services to culture, broadcasting and charity.

"I'm very fortunate to have this recognition on top of the luck of living in one of the most interesting periods of Welsh history," he said.

"There are more than enough things to do in Wales and luckily I've been able to get involved and in whatever field it's been I've had the advantage of working with very talented people."

Also honoured is Rhondda Cynon Taf council chief executive Keith Griffiths who is made CBE for his services to local government in Wales. Neath Port Talbot council leader Alan Thomas becomes an OBE.

Also receiving an OBE is Lyndon Jones, chair of the Noah's Ark Appeal, the charity fundraising for Wales' children's hospital.

The Lord-Lieutenant of Gwynedd, Gruffydd Huw Morgan Daniel, is made Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (CVO).

Former managing director of Welsh Water, Nigel Annett, of Brecon, Powys, is made a CBE.

Two others being made CBE are Prof Douglas Kell, of Wrexham, former chief executive of the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council and Prof John Williams who is professor of health services research at Swansea University.