The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus, Darra Singh. I have asked him to provide the hon. Member with the information requested.
Letter from Darra Singh:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question asking what percentage of days were lost through sickness absence of Jobcentre Plus staff in each a) region and b) country of the UK in each of the last three years; what the rate of a) early retirement and b) resignation on grounds of stress and ill health was amongst Jobcentre Plus staff in each a) region and b) country of the UK in each of the last three years; and what the rate of staff turnover was in Jobcentre Plus in each a) region and b) country of the UK in i) 2007/08 and ii) 2008/09. This is something that falls within the responsibilities delegated to me as Chief Executive of Jobcentre Plus.
The table in the following annex provides details by region/country of the percentage of days lost as a result of sick absence in Jobcentre Plus. This sets out the position for 2008/09 and the latest point we have information for, i.e. the 12 month period from November 2008 to October 2009. Unfortunately, we do not hold any earlier information covering working days available and working days lost for each region/country to calculate percentage absence rates. Jobcentre Plus reports its attendance management performance in terms of average working days lost and those are the details we retain to monitor progress.
We do not have details of resignations that arose due to stress or ill health. However, we do maintain details of numbers of ill health retirements. These are contained in the following annex for each of the last three years. The figures comprise all ill health retirement cases that arose in Jobcentre Plus during the period in question.
Details of staff turnover for 2007/08 and 2008/09 are set out in the table in the annex.
Annex
Percentage absence rate Region/country 12 months to March 2009 12 months to October 2009 East Midlands 3.9 4.0 East of England 4.0 3.7 London 4.5 4.0 North East 4.1 3.8 North West 4.4 4.1 Scotland 4.0 3.6 South East 4.2 3.9 South West 4.0 3.8 Wales 4.3 4.0 West Midlands 4.2 4.0 Yorkshire and Humber 3.5 3.3 Note: Sickness absence levels are reported on an average working days lost basis. Source: BOXI Management Information Portal
Region/country 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 East Midlands 7 3 6 East of England 6 4 6 London 13 4 5 North East 11 12 15 North West 14 11 13 Scotland 7 6 4 South East 12 3 7 South West 3 5 11 Wales 5 3 7 West Midlands 15 9 13 Yorkshire and Humber 14 3 3 Note: Data relate to the 12 month period to March for each of the years. Source: Dataview, extracted from Resource Management
Region/country 2007-08 2008-09 East Midlands 5.3 5.7 East of England 4.2 4.6 London 3.3 3.6 North East 4.3 4.2 North West 4.9 4.6 Scotland 4.8 4.9 South East 4.3 4.1 South West 6.9 7.1 Wales 4.9 4.7 West Midlands 4.9 4.9 Yorkshire and Humber 4.7 5.0 Note: Data relate to the 12 month period to March for each of the years. Source: Dataview, extracted from Resource Management