§ Mr. BercowTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many days were lost due to sickness absence in the Department in each of the last four years. [21298]
§ Dr. MoonieThe Ministry of Defence sick absence rates for civilian non-industrial staff in the last four years for which data are available, measured in working days absence per staff year, are as follows:
Year Days 1996 7.9 1997 7.9 1998 8.0 1999 8.8 The MOD is committed to improving the health of its staff and managing sick absence more effectively. A programme of measures is being implemented to help meet the target in MOD's Service Delivery Agreement to reduce sickness absence from the 1998 level of 8 days per staff year to 6.6 days by the end of 2003.