Department for Transport: Sick Leave

Department for Transport written question – answered at on 19 September 2018.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Justin Madders Justin Madders Shadow Minister (Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy) (Labour), Shadow Minister (Health and Social Care)

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the number of days of sick leave taken by staff in his Department for mental health reasons in each year since 2010.

Photo of Nusrat Ghani Nusrat Ghani Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport), Assistant Whip (HM Treasury)

The table below provides details on the number of days sickness absence for the central Department for Transport attributed to mental health reasons from the financial year beginning 1 April 2010 to 1 April 2016:

Period

Total days sickness absence (FTE) due to mental disorders

Average Working Days Lost (AWDL) for all sickness reasons, including mental health

Average Working Days Lost (AWDL) due to mental health reasons

1 April 2010 - 31 March 2011

1144

4.3

0.6

1 April 2011 - 31 March 2012

1356

4.5

0.8

1 April 2012 - 31 March 2013

1634

4.7

1.1

1 April 2013 - 31 March 2014

1436

3.3

0.8

1 April 2014 - 31 March 2015

795

3.5

0.4

1 April 2015 - 31 March 2016

1837

3.6

0.9

1 April 2016 - 31 March 2017

1625

3.6

0.8

The Department has a number of sources of support for employees including a free to use Employee Assistance Programme which offers six counselling sessions at a convenient location within days of referral, and a Mental Health Buddy Network run by volunteers. We have also launched a Mental Health First Aid service run by trained volunteers for colleagues in immediate emotional distress.

We recognise the importance of the line manager in mental health, and have a resource available for line managers to provide guidance on managing colleagues with mental health difficulties/issues. We have launched Wellbeing Action Plans, a tool to guide line managers in having conversations around wellbeing, including mental health.

Does this answer the above question?

Yes1 person thinks so

No1 person thinks not

Would you like to ask a question like this yourself? Use our Freedom of Information site.