§ Lord Lairdasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they can estimate the number of days lost to the workforce through smoking-related illnesses per year. [HL3899]
§ Lord McIntosh of HaringeyThe information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from the National Statistician and Registrar General, Len Cook, dated 17 October 2000.
As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your recent question about the number of days lost to the workforce through smoking-related illnesses per year.
Estimates on the number of days lost through smoking-related illnesses are not available.
The Labour Force Survey (LFS) is National Statistics' major source of labour market data on individuals. It does not ask questions on smoking-related illnesses. It can provide information on the number of days employees were unable to work in the week that they were surveyed. However, as this number of days can also include some when the respondent would not normally work, no accurate estimate of the total number of working days lost in a year can be calculated. No other official source can provide the information requested.