To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what the average duration of single periods of sick leave taken by staff in (a) his Department and its predecessor, (b) its agencies and (c) the non-departmental bodies for which his Department has responsibility who gave (i) stress and (ii) mental health and behavioural disorders as the reason for their absence was in each of the last 10 years; and if he will make a statement. (241352)

Information for 2004, 2005 and 2006-07 for the Department, its predecessor and its agencies can be found on the civil service website at:

http://www.civilservice.gov.uk/about/statistics/sickness.asp

Stress, mental health and behavioural disorders all fall within the category of ‘mental and behavioural disorders’.

For years prior to 2004, sickness absence data is not available in the form requested and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.