Written question asked by Linda Riordan (Labour) on Monday, 19 December 2011, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 10 January 2012. It was answered by Lord Grayling (Conservative) on Tuesday, 10 January 2012 on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions.

Sick Leave: Pain

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what estimate his Department has made of the number of working days lost as a result of chronic pain in England in the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement.

Answer: The Department for Work and Pensions does not have estimates of the number of working days lost as a result of chronic pain, although we estimate that up to 140 million days are lost to sickness absence in the GB as a whole. The recently published review by Dame Carol Black and David Frost ““Health at work: an independent review of sickness absence””"http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/health-at-work.pdf"contains considerable up to date evidence on the health of the working age population and sickness absence.

Secondary information