Staff Absenteeism

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many working days have been lost to the Department and its executive agencies in each year since 1997 due to staff absenteeism, expressed as the average annual number of absent days per employee; and what the estimated cost to the Department and its agencies of absenteeism was in each year. (77757)

The Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency gathers this information on behalf of the Northern Ireland Departments and the Northern Ireland Office. Figures in relation to this question are only available from 2000-01 onwards.

The figures for 2004-05 are inclusive of Northern Ireland Office, Home Civil Service staff.

The Northern Ireland Prison Service provides independent information. They are unable to provide figures for costs prior to 2002-03.

*Average annual number of absent days per employee*
	1996-97	1997-98	1998-99	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
NIO Core	—	—	—	—	12.8	13.4	13.7	14.0	12.6	—
FSNI	—	—	—	—	8.1	11.7	12.4	13.3	13.7	—
Com Agency	—	—	—	—	18.7	20.9	17.4	18.1	21.0	—
YJA	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	19.8	—
NIPS	18.2	19.8	23.1	19.2	16.6	13.9	19.4	20.7	15.9	14.2

*Estimated cost to the Department and its Agencies*
£
	1996-97	1997-98	1998-99	1999-2000	2000-01
NIO Core	—	—	—	—	745,043.7
FSNI	—	—	—	—	91,026.3
Comp Agency	—	—	—	—	160,128.3
YJA	—	—	—	—	—
NIPS	—	—	—	—	—

£
	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06
NIO Core	718,092.9	875,785.7	959,320.1	1,024,046.5	—
FSNI	132,507.2	153,572.0	171,827.3	169,381.0	—
Comp Agency	180,356.0	160,290.2	205,226.0	188,140.0	—
YJA	—	—	—	103,476.0	—
NIPS	—	4,600,000	5,100,000	3,800,000	¹2,500,000
¹ To December 2005. NIO Core = Northern Ireland Office FSNI = Forensic Science Northern Ireland Comp Age = Compensation Agency YJA = Youth Justice Agency NIPS = Northern Ireland Prison Service

Volume 448: debated on Monday 3 July 2006