HC Deb 07 September 2004 vol 424 c960W
Bob Spink

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many hours were worked per week, on average, by police officers working on restricted or recuperative duties in(a) England and (b) Essex in the last year for which figures are available. [186475]

Ms Blears

The Home Office does not publish data on restricted or recuperative duties for police officers in England and Wales.

Bob Spink

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police officers are(a) working on restricted recuperative duties, (b) unable to work night duty and (c) absent through sickness in (i) England and (ii) Essex. [186444]

Ms Blears

For the period 2002–03 a total of 1,364,067 officer days were lost to sickness absence—an average of 10.4 days per officer per year. For the same period, Essex constabulary lost 31,785 officer days to sickness absence—an average of 10.3 days per officer per year. This represents a fall in sickness absence from 1996–97 where the national rate was 12.8 days per officer per year—a reduction of over 18 per cent.

These figures were published in the annual Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary report for 2002–03.

The Home Office does not publish data on the number of police officers working on restricted or recuperative duties or who are unable to work on night duty.