To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the average annual number of absent days per employee was in his Department and its executive agencies in each year since 1997; what percentage of person-days were lost through absenteeism; and what the estimated total cost to the Department and its agencies was in each year. (153980)

Statistics on sickness absence of civil servants in Departments and agencies are published annually in ‘Analysis of Sickness Absence in the Civil Service; available at the following website:

http://www.civilservice.gov.uk/management/conditions%5 Fof%5Fservice/publications/