To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many staff in his Department (a) were disciplined and (b) had their employment terminated as a result of a poor sickness record in each of the last 12 months. (262248)

The Ministry of Defence does not discipline its employees for reasons of illness. It has a range of restoring efficiency procedures to restore and maintain acceptable levels of attendance and deal with staff whose excessive sickness absence and attendance record has become a cause for concern. Employment can be terminated where patterns of irregular attendance from staff become unacceptable, or where long-term sickness absence persists and there is no prospect of a regular return to work. Some staff may also qualify for ill health retirement in certain circumstances, under the terms of their pension scheme.

In the period March 2008 to February 2009, the MOD dismissed 59 civilian employees for unacceptable attendance, 29 for long-term sickness absence and granted ill health retirement to a further 157 employees. A monthly breakdown of this is as follows: