Question to the Department for International Development:

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

The table below confirms the number of days recorded as sickness absence in DFID relating to mental health from 2014 to 2017.

Information prior to 2014 would only be available at disproportionate cost.

DFID is committed to reducing sickness absence and we have policies in place to ensure that employees have the right care and support to help prevent mental illness and support employees who are affected, for example our Employee Assistance Programme.

DFID have had awareness campaigns, sharing personal stories and having an SCS champion for health and disability, which has helped change the culture and mind-sets across the department.

Civil Service sickness absence data includes absence relating to mental health disorders, but not specifically to stress.

Mental health disorders include stress, but also a range of other disorders such as anxiety, depression and long term mental illness.