§ Dr. MurrisonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average number of working days lost through sickness among police officers in England was in 2002, broken down by(a) constabulary, (b) rank and (c) gender. [96744]
§ Mr. DenhamThe average number of days lost through sickness absence for police officers in England and Wales for the year 2001–02, (the latest figures that are available) is 11.5. The national average for male and female officers is 11 days and 15 days respectively. Broken down by constabulary, the average number of days lost through sickness absence per officer are:
Force Average days per officer Per Male Officer Per Female Officer Avon and Somerset 13.0 13 14 Bedfordshire 9.5 8 15 Cambridgeshire 12.0 10 15 Cheshire 13.8 13 16 City of London 12.1 10 20 Cleveland 12.2 11 19 Cumbria 13.4 13 15 Derbyshire 11.5 11 15 Devon and Cornwall 10.4 9 14 Dorset 10.0 9 17 Durham 11.1 10 16 Dyfed-Powys 10.5 10 10 Essex 11.2 11 15 Gloucestershire 10.7 10 14 Greater Manchester 12.7 N/A N/A Gwent 15.6 14 21 Hampshire 11.1 10 14 Hertfordshire 11.9 11 16 Humberside 8.6 8 9 Kent 11.1 10 17 Lancashire 11.6 11 15 Leicestershire 12.2 11 20 Lincolnshire 12.0 11 16 Merseyside 12.6 12 20 Metropolitan Police 10.4 10 15 Norfolk 12.2 12 15 Northamptonshire 8.5 8 10 Northumbria 9.0 9 11 North Wales 10.5 10 11 North Yorkshire 9.9 10 10 Nottinghamshire 11.4 11 15 South Wales 12.7 12 15 South Yorkshire 11.6 11 12 Staffordshire 14.3 13 20 Suffolk 9.0 8 13 Surrey 10.9 10 15 Sussex 11.1 11 14 Thames Valley 11.4 10 17 Warwickshire 10.9 10 16 West Mercia 13.2 12 18 West Midlands 13.1 12 16 West Yorkshire 13.4 13 17 Wiltshire 13.2 12 17 (Figures published in the Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) Annual Report published on 19 December 2002)
One of the aims of the Strategy for a Healthy Police Service, published in October 2002, is to identify and address the disparity in levels of sickness absence between different groups within the police service.
Sickness absence data are not collected by rank.