Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made, if any, of the effects of long-term sickness among civil servants on the delivery of public services.

The Civil Service provides its employees with a comprehensive range of health and wellbeing tools and policies to ensure that employees remain in work or return to work as quickly as possible following absence due to ill health. In addition, since 2022, the Government People Group has worked with the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, the professional body for HR, and the Joint Department for Work and Pensions and Department of Health and Social Care Work and Health Directorate, to benchmark the Civil Service approach to long term sickness for its employees, and ensure it is aligned to best practice.

Individual departments are responsible for managing their own workforces, including the impact of any sickness absences to ensure the effective delivery of the public services it is responsible for.