§ Dr. CunninghamTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will give an estimate of the average number of people receiving statutory sick pay at any one date in the year, for each financial year from the introduction of the scheme in 1983–84 to the most recently available year.
§ Mr. Peter LloydInformation to enable such an estimate to be made is not collected. However, I refer the hon. Member to my reply to the hon. Member for Crewe and Nantwich (Mrs. Dunwoody) on 23 March at columns790–91, which gives the recorded payments of statutory sick pay in each year since its introduction. The average length of a statutory sick pay spell is about three weeks.