Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many days were lost to sickness absence by civil servants in their Department (a) in total and (b) on average per employee between 5 July 2024 and 4 July 2025.

Between 1 July 2024 and 30 June 2025, a total of 360,823 working days were lost to sickness absence across the Ministry of Defence’s (MOD) civilian workforce, an average of 6.65 days per employee.

The Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA)’s data is collected separately. For the RFA in this period, a total of 18,338.5 24-hour days were lost to sickness absence, an average of 11 days per employee.

MOD civil servant sickness absence statistics are published by the Cabinet Office on an annual basis at the following link: www.gov.uk/government/collections/sickness-absence