§ Mr. WebbTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what progress he has made on reducing his Department's sickness absence rates; what baseline figure was used to assess his Department's compliance with its PSA target on reducing sickness rates; what the Department's actual figure for 2000 was; and if he will make a statement. [159168]
§ Mr. RookerThe Department's PSA targets are to achieve a reduction on sickness absence rates of 20 per cent. by the end of 2001 and 30 per cent. by the end of 2003. The targets are measured against the 1998 baseline figure of 12.1 average working days lost per person.
All appropriate recommendations of the Cabinet Office report "Working Well Together" have been introduced and action plans are in place across the Department to improve performance in managing attendance.
Performance for the year 2000 was 12.6 average working days lost. Performance was adversely affected at the start of the year by the influenza outbreak which was higher than normal.