Absenteeism (Hansard, 25 February 1998)

§ Mr. Morley

[holding answer 5 February 1998]: Information in the form precisely requested is not readily available and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. However, a comprehensive analysis of sickness absence in the Civil Service is produced annually by OHSA Ltd. and copies of their 1995 and 1996 reports have been placed in the Library of the House.

The 1995 report indicated an average of 9.1 days sickness absence per staff year for this Department (including some smaller Agencies) but in 1996 the average was reduced to 7.8 days. Information in respect of 1997 is not yet available.

Responsibility for attendance matters within the Farming and Rural Conservation Agency, the Central Science Laboratory Agency, the Veterinary Laboratories Agency, the Veterinary Medicines Directorate, the Meat Hygiene Service Agency and the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Agency has been delegated to the Agency Chief Executives and I have asked them to reply to the hon. Member direct.

276W

Information in respect of the Non-Departmental Public Bodies is given in the table.

Days per staff year
	1997–98	1995–96	1996–97 to date
Apple and Pear Research Council	¹30.0	—	0.5
British Potato Council	—	—	3.3
Food From Britain	3.2	1.5	1.4
Home Grown Cereals Authority	6.0	²11.7	²13.2
Horticultural Development Council	n/a	3.05	3.6
Horticulture Research International	4.9	4.6	3.5
Meat and Livestock Commission	9.0	7.0	4.0
Milk Development Council	—	0.8	1.17
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew	8.8	8.8	8.8
Sea Fish Industry Authority	5.38	3.96	5.62
Wine Standards Board	³8.0	1.24	1.44
¹ One member of staff on long term sick leave.
² Four staff on long term sick leave accounted for 37 per cent. of the absences in 1996–97 and 59 per cent. in 1997–98.
³ All long term sick leave.

Letter from Michael Finnigan to Mr. Malcolm Bruce, dated 25 February 1998: The Minister has asked me to reply to your question about the estimated rates of absenteeism within the Farming and Rural Conservation Agency (FRCA). FRCA is a new agency which was launched on 1 April 1997, and has no absence figures prior to this date. Between 1 April 1997 and 31 December 1997 2,689 days were lost through sickness absence. This gives an average figure of 4.8 days per employee, which would suggest an annualised rate at 6.4 days per employee.

Letter from Johnston McNeill to Mr. Malcolm Bruce, dated 25 February 1998: As Chief Executive of the Meat Hygiene Service (MHS) your Parliamentary Question to the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food requesting information about the rates of absenteeism for 1995–96, 1996–97 and 1997–98 to date has been passed to me for reply with regard to this Executive Agency. The percentage rates of absenteeism for the Meat Hygiene Service are as follows:

1995/96: 4.1 per cent.
1996/97: 4.23 per cent.
1997/98 (to date): 3.10 per cent.

The above percentages represent the number of days lost in comparison to total possible worked.

Letter from P. W. Greig-Smith to Mr. Malcolm Bruce, dated 25 February 1998: As Agency Chief Executive, I am responding to your question to the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries & Food regarding the rates of absenteeism with the Centre for Environment, Fisheries & Aquaculture Science. Selected aggregated data in relation to sickness absence is provided by the Civil Service Occupational Health & Safety Agency (OHSA) on an annual basis, but does not identify data by financial years. The 1995 report for the core Department included the Directorate of Fisheries Research (DFR) (now the CEFAS Agency). This shows an average of 9.1 days sickness absence per staff year for 1995, but there are no separate figures for the Agency. At the present time there are no figures available for 1996 onwards. 277W Sickness absence is monitored on a continuous individual basis within the Agency, to ensure that any individual's problems are identified and managed. Absence details are held on the Chessington Computer Centre payroll system, and individual records can be accessed. However, it is not possible to interrogate the system for aggregated figures. Records could be accessed and aggregated manually, but not in the time available. CEFAS is presently setting up a Personnel Database, and when fully operational it is intended that the database should provide sickness absence data for routine management purposes and for general enquiries on summary data for the Agency.

Letter from T. W. A. Little to Mr. Malcolm Bruce, dated 25 February 1998: The Minister has asked me to reply to your question on rates of absenteeism in 1995–96, 1996–97 to date, in the Veterinary Laboratories Agency (VLA). By way of background, the VLA was launched as an Agency on 1 October 1995 as a result of the merger between the Central Veterinary Laboratory (CVL), an Agency since April 1990, and the Veterinary Investigation Service (VIS), formerly part of the State Veterinary Service. Information in the form that has been requested is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost. However, selected aggregated data in relation to sick absence is provided by the Civil Service Occupational Health and Safety Agency (OHSA) on an annual basis. This data shows an average of 9.4 days sick absence per staff year in 1995 in the CVL. At the present time there are no figures available for 1996 onwards. Figures for the VIS would have been included with MAFF figures prior to 1996.

Letter from Dr. J. M. Rutter to Mr. Malcolm Bruce, dated 25 February 1998: The Minister has asked me to reply to your question about rates of absenteeism for the years 1995–96, 1996–97 and 1997–98 to date in the Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) as this is an operational matter for which I am responsible.

Purpose	Date	Cost
Two conferences on INTERREG IIC Programme
To inform potential participants about European Community Initiative	25 September and 20 October 1997	£40 per conference
The Health of Children in Wales
To highlight the distinctive health issues for children in the Principality	1 December 1997	£8,500
Workshop on the Public Health Strategy
To consult widely on the new public health agenda	7 January 1998	£592
Shape of Future Health Care Workforce in Wales
To discuss changes in the Health Care Workforce	16 July 1997	£1,000
Industrial Relations in the Health Service in Wales
To discuss industrial relations and employment practice	8 October 1997	£4,750
Welsh Green Paper on Special Educational Needs
To discuss the Paper on Special Educational Needs	18 December 1997	£2,381
Presentation of the Report of the Welsh Acid Waters Survey
To present the report of the Welsh Acid Waters Survey	26 November 1997	Co-organised with the Environment Agency and the Countryside Council for Wales, which provided £1,500 to the event
Transport Conference
Held as part of the drive towards developing an integrated transport policy for the UK	8 December 1997	£8,300

278W The rates of absenteeism in the VMD for the periods requested are:

i) 1995–96: 2.4%
ii) 1996–97: 2.9%
iii) 1997–98 to date: 3.4%

The increase in absenteeism in 1997/98 is attributable to one member of staff on long term sick leave. Discounting this absence the rate would be 2.7% which is comparable with the rates for previous years.

Letter from Professor P. I. Stanley to Mr. Malcolm Bruce, dated 25 February 1998: The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food has asked me to reply, in respect of the Central Science Laboratory (CSL), to your question concerning rates of absenteeism. Information on sick absence is not presently available in the form requested and could only be provided at disproportionate cost. I am, however, able to provide details for the 1995 calendar year in which an average of 5.6 days sick absence were taken per staff year. This data is provided by the Civil Service Occupational Health & Safety Agency on an annual basis but at the present time no data is available for 1996 onwards. A separate exercise, undertaken by CSL, indicates an average of 5.4 days sick absence for the period 1 October 1996 to 30 September 1997 and 1.8 days sick absence for the period 1 October 1997 to 31 December 1997.