§ Mr. EvansTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many working days have been lost due to illness in her Department in(a) 2002 and (b) each of the preceding five years. [90967]
§ Alun MichaelRecords are not yet available for the number of days lost due to sickness absence in 2002, but these will be announced in due course. Sickness absence figures for previous years are published in the Cabinet Office annual report "Analysis of Sickness Absence in the Civil Service", copies of which are placed in the Library of the House.
350WDefra was created in June 2001. The figure for that year, shown as an average per staff year, relates to parts of the former DETR and the former MAFF and its agencies.
2001—7.2 days
The Department is committed to the effective management of sickness absence, and to meeting its Service Delivery Agreement target of reducing sickness absence to 6.9 days for 2003.