Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many senior civil servants in his Department were on a leave of absence from work due to mental illness in each month since January 2010.

Since 2010, nine individual members of the senior civil service have been absent from work due to mental health reasons on ten different occasions. The specific months in which these absences occurred are not given to avoid identifying the individual officers concerned.

The Department is committed to reducing work-related absence due to mental illness and has a number of services in place to support members of staff suffering from such conditions. To this end the Department:

- Delivers two day Mental Health First Aid training courses in London and Leeds; and half-day Mental Health First Aid Lite courses;

- Supports and promotes a network of Mental Health First Aiders;

- Delivers Tackling Stress at Work courses using the Health and Safety Executive’s Management Standards framework;

- Signposts staff to courses on mental health that are available through Civil Service Learning; and

- Delivers an programme of events around World Mental Health Day in October, which this year included pledge boards across the Departmental estate and tea and talk sessions.

The Department also provides access to an Employment Assistance Programme, which is advertised to staff via the intranet. It promotes The Charity for Civil Servants, whose services include a mental health helpline and signposts to MIND, the Samaritans and internal staff networks where staff can get help and assistance.