§ Mr. Nicholas BrownTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what progress has been made in980W reducing sickness and absence in his Department; what the principal causes of sickness and absence are in his Department; and what remedial work his Department has under way or is proposing. [140649]
§ Maria EagleThe Department for Work and Pensions has targets set by Cabinet Office to help contribute to a reduction in public sector sickness absence. These involve an average working days lost figure of eight days by March 2006, and an interim target of 10 days by March 2004. The cumulative average working days lost figure for the period April to October 2003 was 12.3.
Ministers and senior managers in the Department fully recognise the importance of good attendance. The Department's Executive Team, chaired by the Permanent Secretary, reviews sickness absence on a monthly basis.
The remedial work we have in place includes the following:
A new Departmental attendance management policy was implemented in February 2003. This aims to encourage good attendance and provide support to enable people to return to work as quickly as possible following an illness. Formal unsatisfactory attendance action can be considered when an absence reaches eight days in a rolling 12 month period. To measure the effectiveness of the policy, an evaluation exercise will start shortly.
Each of the businesses within the Department has initiatives in place aimed at getting sickness absence levels down. Jobcentre Plus has an 'Improving Attendance' task force in operation. Its emphasis is on reducing long-term absences (i.e. those over 28 days duration), by either facilitating a return to work, or effecting a termination of an individual's contract. The Department is also participating in the 'Well-being at work' pilots that are being run by the Health and Safety Executive. This initiative is intended to combat workplace stress. In addition, the Department is committed to discharging its responsibilities to disabled people by making reasonable adjustments to the workplace to facilitate an individual's return to work, or to avoid people going off in the first place. A pilot will also commence in January that will involve the early intervention of occupational health nurses in addressing, quickly, those absences that have the potential to become long-term.