To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many members of his Department have been on sick leave for over six months. (290098)

The Department does not routinely calculate the number of staff who have been on sick leave for over six months. However, in common with other Whitehall departments we do regularly report our sickness absence. The latest performance report is available at this link:

http://www.bis.gov.uk/sicknessabsence

To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many working days in the last month were lost owing to sick leave taken by staff of his Department. (290099)

The Department does not routinely calculate the number of working days lost owing to sick leave taken by staff in the last month. However, in common with other Whitehall departments we do regularly report our sickness absence. The latest performance report is available at this link:

http://www.bis.gov.uk/sicknessabsence

To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what the cost to the public purse of sickness absences in his Department and its predecessors was in each of the last five years. (290560)

The Department does not routinely calculate the cost to the public purse of sickness absences. The Cabinet Office has published previous annual sickness absence reports for the Civil Service (from 2003 to 2007). These can be viewed via sickness absence reports. The latest of these reports was published for the year up to April 2007.

However in common with other Whitehall departments we do regularly report our sickness absence. The latest performance report is available at this link.

http://www.bis.gov.uk/sicknessabsence