§ Mr. HammondTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the rate of absence from work due to sickness and injury for workers was in(a) the public sector and (b) the private sector in the last 12 months for which figures are available. [146961]
§ Marjorie MowlamI have been asked to reply.
My Department does not maintain these statistics. The Cabinet Office does, however, publish each year a report on sickness absence in the civil service and I would refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Rochdale (Mrs. Fitzsimons) on 15 February 2001, Official Report, columns 269–70W, for the position in 1999.
The Office for National Statistics, through its Labour Force Survey, collects data on working days lost to illness and injury. The results, published quarterly in "Labour Market Trends", are not presented by the public and private sectors.