Information on sickness absence in the civil service is available at:
http://www.civilservice.gov.uk/about/statistics/sickness.asp.
Published data are available from the 2004 calendar year to the 2006-07 financial year. The number of working days lost due to sickness in DEFRA was as follows:
Days 2004 56,000 2005 59,826 2006-07 48,026
Data on days lost to sickness before 2004 could be provided only at disproportionate cost.