§ Mr. BercowTo ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many staff in the Department have been on long-term sick leave in each of the last two years. [115856]
§ Yvette CooperThe Office of the Deputy Prime Minister was established following machinery of Government changes on 29 May 2002. The most recent "Analysis of Sickness Absence in the Civil Service" (2001) was published in December 2002. This publication includes figures for sick absences in agencies that became part of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister on 29 May 2002. The analysis for 2002 is due to be published soon.
Since 29 May 2002 the figures available show that 158 staff had sick absences lasting 21 days or more. This does not include the Rent Service and Government Offices where this information could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
The office is committed to managing sick absence effectively and to meeting Service Delivery Agreement (SDA) target reductions in sick absence by the end of 2003.