Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many working days were lost due to mental illness in his Department in each of the last three years.
The total number of working days lost in DWP due to mental illness in each of the last three years is set out in the table below.
DWP is committed to improving mental ill health. We support employees through access to comprehensive stress risk assessments, Occupational Health services and our Employee Assistance Programme which offers immediate telephone support 24 hours a day, every day. DWP is currently introducing Mental Health First Aid to further add to the support available.
DWP has greatly reduced sickness absence from an average of 11.1 days in March 2007 to 6.13 days currently. The Department has the lowest average working days lost across Government when compared against other Departments of its size and grade structure.
Period | Working Days Lost to mental illness | Working Days Available | Working Days Lost as a % of Working Days Available |
01 November 2015 to 31 October 2016 | 114,887 | 16,933,234 | 0.68% |
01 November 2014 to 31 October 2015 | 103,596 | 16,288,909 | 0.64% |
01 November 2013 to 31 October 2014 | 121,513 | 17,558,267 | 0.69% |