Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the cost of sickness pay to staff in his Department was in the most recent year for which figures are available.

We are unable to provide a figure for the actual cost of sickness pay - this information could only be obtained at a disproportionate cost.

However, from 1 January to 31 December 2016, 3,289 days were lost to sickness absence by employees in the Treasury. This equates to a figure of 2.6 days average working day lost per employee.