§ Mr. BercowTo ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will commission and publish an independent report on the reasons for the level of sickness absence in his Department. [26976]
§ Mr. LeslieThe Cabinet Office already commissions and publishes an independent annual report "Analysis of Sickness Absence in the Civil Service". This report includes details of the causes of absenteeism in all Government Departments, and is available at: www.cabinet.office.gov.uk/civilservice/publications/ sickness/index. htm.
For 2002 the contract for analysis of absence statistics has been awarded to AON Ltd. which will be conducting a thorough review of all the information currently collected and the needs and requirements of all users of the report.
The Cabinet Office has responsibilities for setting sick absence targets in the civil service as a whole and these are reflected in its Service Delivery Agreement (SDA) as follows:
a best quartile target of no more than 3.72 medical retirements per 1,000 employees by 2005;no more than a civil service average of 7.2 days sick absence per person, per year by 2003 for the Civil Service as a whole.The Cabinet Office is also committed to managing the attendance levels of its own employees and has set a target of 6.1 days per person per year by 2003. The medical retirement target is the same as that set for all Government Departments.