Sick Leave: Stress

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many working days were lost due to stress-related illness in each of the last 30 years. (286290)

The information the HSE holds on the estimated working days lost due to stress is as follows:

*Estimated days lost due to stress, anxiety and depression*
	Days lost—rounded to nearest 1,000
2007-08	13,547,000
2006-07	13,760,000
2005-06	10,537,000
2004-05	12,820,000
2003-04	12,803,000
2001-02	12,919,000
1995¹	6,465,000
¹ The figure for 1995 was gathered using a different method from those for subsequent years, but is included for completeness; it should not be used for comparison purposes.

The Health and Safety Executive collects this information by commissioning a self-reported work-related ill-health (SWI) survey conducted on its behalf by the Office for National Statistics as part of its Labour Force Survey.

No data are available before 1995 and the SWI Survey has not always been conducted on an annual basis.

Volume 496: debated on Monday 20 July 2009