§ Mr. ClaphamTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many employees of her Department retired through work-related ill-health in the last year for which records are available; and what the cost was to the Department. [56101]
§ Mr. CabornRecords are not maintained by DCMS which enable ill-health retirements to be separately identified as work related. For DCMS there was one member of staff retired with a medical retirement certificate issued by the civil service pension scheme medical adviser for the last year. Benefits provided on medical retirement are as set out in the rules of the principal civil service pension scheme and laid before Parliament, and provide for an immediate payment of an 251W enhanced pension and lump sum. Ill-health retirement expenditure is met centrally from the Civil Superannuation Vote. For the year ending March 2002, provisional expenditure met from the Vote was £310 million in respect of all civil services cases for which an ill-health pension has been awarded. These cases number approximately 67,000 and include those who have formerly been ill-health retired but who have now reached and exceeded the normal retirement age.
§ Mr. ClaphamTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many claims for work-related illness were settled by her Department in the last year for which records are available; and what the cost was in compensation. [56100]
§ Mr. Caborn[holding answer 20 May 2002]: Records are not maintained by DCMS which enable sick leave to be separately identified as work related and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
DCMS has a legal obligation to provide a safe working environment for employees. The Department is committed to meeting targets for reducing the number of working days lost generally due to sickness absence and due to work related injuries and illness arising from the Government's revitalising health and safety initiative.
§ Mr. ClaphamTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many days of sick leave were taken by employees in her Department in the last year for which records are available; what proportion of those were due to work-related illness or injury; and what the cost was to the Department. [56102]
§ Mr. Caborn[holding answer 20 May 2002]: The Cabinet Office publishes an annual report "Analysis of Sickness Absence in the Civil Service". The most recently published figures are for the calendar year 2000. For DCMS the working days absence per staff year figures were:
Absence Certified sickness 3.9 Self-certification 2.2 Total 6.0 Staff years 404 Records are not maintained by DCMS which enable sick leave to be separately identified as work-related. There is no known record of anyone having had a work-related injury.
DCMS is committed to meet targets arising from the Government's revitalising health and safety initiative, for reducing the number of working days lost due to sickness absence generally and due to work-related injuries and illness.