§ Mr. BercowTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many staff in his Department were on long term sick leave in each of the last five years. [109249]
§ Mr. Mike O'BrienThe Foreign and Commonwealth Office does not keep historical records of officers who have been on long-term sick leave. We currently have 16 people on long-term sick leave (i.e. over six months).
To try to prevent long term sickness absence we notify our Occupational Health department when an officer has been sick for longer than three weeks.
We are fully committed to reducing our sickness absence and are on course to meet our 'Service Delivery Agreement' target.