Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many senior civil servants in his Department were on a leave of absence from work due to mental illness in each month of each year since the Department's creation.

The Prime Minister’s Office is an integral part of the Cabinet Office and is included in this reply.

It is not possible to provide figures for the number of senior civil servants who have taken leave of absence from work in my Department due to mental illness in each month of each year since its creation. As part of the Transparency Agenda, my Department publishes quarterly statistics on sickness absence and these are available from the Cabinet Office website at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cabinet-office-absence-data .

The Cabinet Office 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. Our Workwell community is staffed by volunteers who aim to make Cabinet Office a happy and healthy workplace through a number of interventions including a listening service for staff. We also offer a 24 hour counselling support helpline through our Employee Assistance Programme provider and advocate early referral to our occupational health service, where appropriate, for advice on a number of conditions including mental health.