Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make an estimate of the number of sick days that were taken by staff due to mental health illness in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools in England in the period between September 2021 and August 2022.

The information requested is not held centrally. Information on the overall number of days of teacher sickness absence is collected from state-funded schools in England in the November School Workforce Census. However, this does not include the reason for the sickness absence.

Each census collects data for absence from the previous academic year. The November 2022 census, covering the period September 2021 to August 2022, will be published in summer 2023 in the annual school workforce statistical publication. The latest report can be found at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england.