Brown hails his everyday heroes

His new book, Britain's Everyday Heroes, comprises the stories of 33 ordinary people, three of them Scots, whose commitment to a cause or a community has informed and inspired him. They are the kind of people the honours system should celebrate, according to Mr Brown.

"They, for me, are the true celebrities and those most worthy of celebration in 2007," he said.

His comments came as he announced plans for a major recasting of the honours system, under which he said the "significant majority" of awards should in future go to "the local everyday heroes who make a difference".

The changes will be accompanied by a £515m boost in state funding for community groups, voluntary organisations and charities over the next three years.

Mr Brown also announced plans for a national day for celebrating volunteering and "social change" on July 24 - a date chosen to reflect the 24/7 nature of the work of those it recognises.

During his research he came to understand what writer John Buchan, from his home town of Kirkcaldy, meant when he once said: "Our task is not to put the greatness back into humanity, but to elicit it, for the greatness that is there already."

All royalties from the book will go to the charity Community Links, which runs projects in east London.

Among the heroes' stories is that of Stevie Siegerson.

The son of a single parent who had seven children to look after, Mr Siegerson is fronting the innovative Columba 1400, the Skye-based charity dedicated to bringing out leadership qualities in young people whose early life has been tough. Its philosophy is that there is enormous potential to be tapped into among people who have weathered tough times.

The 36-year-old, who himself is a graduate of Columba 1400, believes his experience has helped him develop the project. At 26, when returning to full-time education as an adult learner, he obtained both an HNC and HND in Leisure Management. This fuelled an enormous appetite for learning that led him into studies in sociology and psychology.

Gordon Brown says he is part of a "remarkable project that is rooted in a belief that people have it in them to be the best that they can be".

The PM added: "Their success lies in seeing young people not as the collection of problems with which they have been labelled, but as individuals with unique abilities and unique potential."

The project was founded seven years ago by Norman Drummond, the former BBC governor for Scotland. He wanted to help children from "tough realities" find "inner greatness" and began fundraising for a centre to host the programme in Staffin, Skye, on June 9, 1997, the 1400th anniversary of the death of St Columba - hence the name.

Mr Siegerson said: "We hope it will expand. We get lots of interest from lots of different places and it would be great if we could get more folks from south of the border involved in what we do.

"It is true to say that lots of the folks that are called heroes in Gordon Brown's book are invisible. They are in the communities with their sleeves rolled up.

"It is good that they are getting recognised."

Another hero recognised in Gordon Brown's book is Dr Thomas Mackay, who tackled illiteracy in one of Scotland's most deprived areas.

West Dunbartonshire was cursed with one of the UK's worst literacy rates, with 28% of children leaving primary school functionally illiterate.

Now, thanks in part to the pioneering work of the 61-year-old psychologist, a research consultant to the West Dunbartonshire Literacy Initiative, it has been all but eradicated.

West Dunbartonshire Council believes it will be the first in the world to eradicate illiteracy in its schools, and that it is on target to have all school leavers up to expected reading levels by this November.

The initiative had two key aims: to transform the achievement of all children aged four to seven through a comprehensive early intervention programme, and to eradicate illiteracy from the entire school population.

Synthetic phonics, where children learn to "sound out" the letters, has been at the core of the scheme. Since being launched in 1997, reading levels have risen year-on-year. Some 60,000 children have so far been individually assessed and evaluation shows that children entering P3 have an average reading age almost six months higher than previous expectations.

Gordon Brown noted: "The success of this dedicated work, one-to-one, one by one, will not only enhance individual lives but will impact on the local economy and on the wider society for years to come."

Pat Beattie's work in changing behaviour patterns in problem families has also been praised in the Prime Minister's new book.

Her technique has been called Supernanny Rescue, or the tough-love cure. But when it started, it was a different story, with some commentators dubbing it the Sin Bin and Colditz.

Her pioneering scheme, first used in Dundee, uses intensive one-to-one support techniques which have resulted in a host of similar projects around the UK.

The radical new residential scheme for tearaway children and their families, run with the backing of children's charity NCH, proved successful over 10 years in Dundee and has since seen the 53-year-old project manager move to Aberdeen in a bid to replicate her work there.

The Prime Minister was impressed by the Dundee Families project, the first service of its kind in the UK to work intensively with families whose disruptive behaviour was causing a nuisance for their neighbours.

Independent research has found that this approach reduces anti-social behaviour to a level where their tenancy is no longer under threat in 85% of cases, and that it is also value for money.

Ms Beattie, who still lives in Dundee, welcomed her inclusion in Mr Brown's book. "I think it is amazing that he is recognising the work of ordinary people and there is a lot of good work going on out there," she said.