Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord True on 4 June (HL4779), what assessment they have made of reports that NHS representatives estimated during Exercise Cygnus that staff absenteeism could be as high as 40 per cent and that the Department for Work and Pensions based its exercise response on a figure of 50 per cent; and what plans they have to reassess the Written Answer by Lord True.

The UK Influenza Pandemic Preparedness Strategy 2011 identified that up to 50% of the workforce may require time off at some stage over the entire period of an influenza pandemic, with 15-20% of staff absent on any given day. However, some small organisational units (five to 15 staff) or small teams within larger organisational units where staff work in close proximity are likely to suffer higher percentages of staff absences, with potentially 30-35% absent on any given day.

Each Government department is responsible for ensuring its own preparedness, and that of the sectors for which it is responsible, to manage the impacts of a pandemic. The Cabinet Office and the Department of Health and Social Care have supported departments to assess and improve the resilience of their sectors to operate in a pandemic, particularly in respect to a reduced workforce.