§ Mr. BercowTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many days were lost due to sickness absence in the Department in each of the last four years. [21340]
§ Ms BlearsThe information requested is shown in the table
Year Average1 days lost per employee through sickness (per staff year) 1997 7.8 1998 29.2 1999 6.6 2000 3— 1Working days absences exclude weekends and bank holidays for staff working a "Monday to Friday" week. 2 Based on pre-audit data and methodology. In 1998 civil service Departments and agencies undertook an audit of their monitoring systems following the "Working Well Together" report. The reworked figures were not submitted in time for publication of the 1998 report and unadjusted figures were published in this year. 3Not yet published. Source:
Analysis of Sickness Absence in the Civil Service BMI Health Services report (1997 Table I, 1998 Table K) and Analysis of Sickness Absence in the Civil Service BIOSS report Table H (1999)
The Department is committed to meeting its Public Service Agreement targets for reducing sickness absence and will be conducting a review of its guidance for both long-term and short-term sickness absence management.