Departments: Sick Leave

Dr. Cable
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what average number of days per year was taken by staff in his Department as sick leave in each of the last five years for which records are available.

Mr. Dhanda
The information is set out in the following table.

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|Calendar year|Average number days lost through sick leave per staff year|
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|2005         |8.9                                                       |
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|2004         |9.0                                                       |
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|2003         |10.3                                                      |
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|2002         |9.8                                                       |
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|2001         |8.4                                                       |
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The data are taken from the report ‘Analysis of Sickness Absence in the Civil Service’, which Cabinet Office publishes annually.