Prison Officers: Sick Leave

(asked on 9th July 2018) - View Source
Questioner
Imran Hussain Portrait
Imran Hussain
(Labour - Bradford East)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prison officers have taken sick leave for reasons of mental health in each year from 2010.

Answered by
Portrait
Rory Stewart
This question was answered on 17th July 2018

HM Prison & Probation Service (HMPPS) is committed to ensuring the health, safety and wellbeing of its staff, with all staff having access to a comprehensive occupational health service and employee assistance programme.

The number of band 3-5 prison officers who have taken sickness absence due to mental and behavioural disorders since 2009/10 can be found in table 1 below.

Table 1: Band 3-5 officers1 who have taken sickness absence due to mental & behavioural disorders2, 2009/10 to 2017/18

Headcount

Financial year

Band 3-5 officers on sickness absence due to mental & behavioural disorders

2009/10

1,670

2010/11

1,609

2011/12

1,655

2012/13

1,620

2013/14

1,820

2014/15

1,617

2015/16

1,596

2016/173

1,658

2017/183

1,540

1 Includes Band 3-4 / Prison Officer (incl specialists), Band 4 / Supervising Officer and Band 5 / Custodial Managers.

2 Absences are categorised according to the International Classification of Diseases, which is an approach used across the civil service.

3 Between January and March 2017, during migration of data to the Single Operating Platform, an under-recording of sickness absence records occurred. Furthermore, investigations are ongoing regarding more recent sickness absence data so figures for the 12 months to 31 March 2018 should be treated with caution.

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