§ Sir Archy KirkwoodTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will make a statement on progress in reducing staff absences within the Department for Work and Pensions. [137356]
§ Maria EagleThe Department for Work and Pensions has targets set by the Cabinet Office to help contribute to a reduction in public sector sickness absence. These involve an average working days lost figure of eight days by March 2006, and an interim target of 10 days by March 2004. The cumulative average working days lost figure for the period April to September 2003 was 12 days.
Ministers and senior managers in the Department fully recognise the importance of good attendance. They are committed to ensuring that managers have effective tools to enable them to manage sickness absence, including support for individuals to facilitate a return to work after illness. People who work for the Department and who have to bear the consequences of colleagues' absence, together with the customers the Department serves, have a right to expect that level of commitment.
A new Departmental Attendance Management policy was implemented in February 2003. This aims to encourage good attendance and provide support to enable people to return to work as quickly as possible following an absence. Formal unsatisfactory attendance action can be considered when an absence reaches eight days in a rolling 12-month period. To measure the effectiveness of the policy, an evaluation exercise will start shortly.
Each of the businesses that comprise the Department has initiatives in place aimed at getting sickness absence levels down. Jobcentre Plus, which is the biggest of the businesses, has an 'Improving Attendance' task force in place. Its emphasis is on reducing long-term absences (ie those over 28 days duration), by either facilitating 440W a return to work, or effecting a termination of an individual's contract. The Department is also participating in the 'Well-being at work' pilots that are being run by the Health and Safety Executive. These are intended to combat workplace stress. In addition, the Department is committed to discharging its responsibilities to people with disabilities by making reasonable adjustments to the workplace to facilitate an individual's return to work. A pilot will also commence shortly that will involve the early intervention of occupational health nurses in addressing, quickly, those absences which have the potential to become long term.