Question to the Scotland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what the absence rate was for staff of his Department based in (a) Scotland and (b) London in each of the last five financial years.

The Office of the Secretary of State for Scotland does not employ staff directly, all staff that join do so on an assignment, loan or secondment from other government bodies, who remain the employer. All absence is reported to and recorded by the parent employers, who retain and manage the detailed absence data relevant to their staff.