I have been asked to reply.
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
Letter from Stephen Penneck, dated March 2010:
As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking what the average number of contracted days’ paid holiday was in the (a) public and (b) private sector by industrial category in the most recent year for which information is available. (318634)
The latest available estimates of average paid holiday entitlement per year are provided in the attached table. The estimates are derived from data collected in the Labour Force Survey (LFS) in Q4 2009. The distinction between public and private sector is based on the respondent's understanding of the organisation for which they work.
As with any sample survey, the estimates provided are subject to a margin of uncertainty.
Average paid holiday entitlement (days per year)1 Public Sector2 Total 29 Private Sector Total 21 Private Sector by main industry3 sector: Agriculture, forestry and fishing 19 Energy and water 25 Manufacturing 22 Construction 21 Distribution, hotels and restaurants 18 Transport and communication 23 Banking, finance and other business services 22 Public administration, education and health 22 Other services 18 Total4 23 1 Excludes public holidays 2 Includes nationalised industry or state corporation, central Government, civil service, local government or council (incl. police, fire services and local authority controlled schools or colleges), university or other grant funded educational establishment, health authority or NHS trust and armed forces. 3 According to the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) 1992. 4 Includes those whose type of employer was not known. Source: ONS Labour Force Survey