Departmental Sick Leave

Mr. Philip Hammond
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many days sickness absence were taken by staff in his Department in each of the last 12 months for which figures are available; and what the cost to his Department was of such absence.

Paul Goggins
The following table shows the number of working days lost from April 2009 to October 2009 and the cost to the Northern Ireland Office based on figures provided by Northern Ireland Statistics Research Agency.

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|              |Total number of working days lost overall|Overall cost (£)|
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|April 2009    |972.8                                    |83,837          |
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|May 2009      |920.7                                    |77,723          |
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|June 2009     |1,075.2                                  |108,357         |
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|July 2009     |916.1                                    |93,572          |
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|August 2009   |1,050.7                                  |101,502         |
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|September 2009|1,303.4                                  |122,897         |
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|October 2009  |1,198.3                                  |117,459         |
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