To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many staff took paternity leave from his Department in each of the last five years; and what the average duration of such leave has been. (290444)

The figures for the number of staff taking paternity leave are only available from the implementation of the Department's business management system on 1 July 2008. Prior to that date information is only be available from hard-copy files and so it would incur disproportionate costs to establish that information. Our records show that the number of staff taking paternity leave in 2008 was nine, and so far this year (2009) the number has been five. The average length of paternity leave taken was 14 days.