HL Deb 13 January 2005 vol 668 c79WA

Lord Hanningfield asked Her Majesty's Government:

How many days' sick leave were taken in the past year by staff in the Department for Education and Skills; and how this compares with other government departments. [HL548]

Lord Filkin

The Department for Education and Skills is fully committed to managing its sickness absence effectively and to reducing the amount of sickness absence from its current levels. We have introduced specific strategies to improve attendance rates and tackling the underlying issues causing sickness.

10.3 working days were lost through sickness absence for each staff year in the department in 2003. The average across the Civil Service was 10.0 days.