To ask Her Majesty's Government what the rates of staff (a) absence, and (b) sickness absence, were at (1) the Ministry of Defence, and (2) each of its agencies and non-departmental public bodies, in each of the past three years; and what the targets for the department were in each case.[HL3279]

It is not possible to provide information on (a) as no reliable data are available on absences other than sickness absence.

Sickness absence rates in the MoD for the 12 months ending 31 December 2006, 31 December 2007 and 31 December 2008 are shown in the table below:

1. Data exclude staff in Trading Funds, the Royal Fleet Auxiliary, and Locally Engaged Civilians for whom sickness absence data are not readily available.

2. Data presented reflect the current Cabinet Office definition, setting a maximum absence of 225 days per person, and exclude data for weekends, annual leave and bank holidays.

3. Average working days lost per FTE are calculated by dividing the total working days lost for each period by a weighted average of the 1st of the month strengths for the period, with the strengths at the 1st January at the start and end of the period receiving a weighting of 0.5, and the strengths at the 1st of the other months in the period a weighting of 1.

4. Sickness absence figures for the 12 months to 31 December 08 exclude absences where a person is classed as being on zero pay.

1 Trading Fund personnel cannot be split by Industrial Non Industrial status.

2 Data presented reflect the current Cabinet Office definition, setting a maximum absence of 225 days per person, and exclude data for weekends, annual leave and bank holidays.

3 Rates are calculated by dividing the total working days lost for each period by a weighted 13 month average for the period listed with the first and last month receiving a weighting of 0.5, and all other months a weighting of 1.

4 Sickness absence figures for the 12 months to 31 December 08 exclude absences where a person is classed as being on zero pay.

Information prior to the 12 months ending 31 December 2008 is not considered robust enough to provide any meaningful sick absence rates due to data inconsistency within the HR systems used by trading funds to record absences.

Target rates of worker sickness absence for civil servants in the Ministry of Defence

Since the Cabinet Office publication of Working Well Together in the Public Sector in June 1998 the Ministry of Defence has had sickness absence targets included in the departmental plan with performance contained in the appropriate departmental report and accounts.

Targets have been to reduce sickness absence cumulatively by 2.5 per cent each year, although the continual change in methodology means that the actual figures cannot be compared year on year. The target set for financial year 2008-09 is to reduce sickness absence to 8.0 average working days lost (AWDL) per full time equivalent (FTE) employee.

To ask Her Majesty's Government what the rates of staff (a) absence, and (b) sickness absence, were at (1) the Department for Work and Pensions, and (2) each of its agencies and non-departmental public bodies, in each of the past three years; and what the targets for the department were in each case.[HL3281]

The information requested for the Department for Work and Pensions, its agencies and 16 non-departmental public bodies is either not available or not held centrally. It cannot be provided completely or at a proportionate cost.

Information about sickness absence rates is readily available. The data are recorded by managers and in most instances rely on details provided by employees. Information for the year 2006-07 was published by the Cabinet Office and can be obtained at the following internet address:

www.civilservice.gov.uk/Assets/Sickness_ Absence_2006to2007_tcm6-2515.pdf.

Information currently recorded on the department's personnel computer for 2007-08 and 2008-09 is shown below.

The department has a single target for reducing sickness absence to an average of 7.7 days per staff year by April 2010.

* Child Support Agency became a non-departmental public body in 2008-09