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Written question asked by Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party) on Thursday, 3 October 2019, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 7 October 2019. It was answered by Johnny Mercer (Conservative) on Tuesday, 8 October 2019 on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.

Armed Forces: Sick Leave

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he has made of level of sickness absence among women in the armed forces in the latest period for which figures are available.

Answer

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) takes the health and wellbeing of its personnel very seriously. A Health and Wellbeing Strategy for all MOD employees, military and civilian, was published in mid-2015 (updated in August 2016) and is designed to provide guidance to the Chain of Command and civilian line managers on how to manage the health needs, both mental and physical, of their people. The aim is to maximise the number of people fit to work, managing people back to work after a period of sickness, so that they are fit and able to meet the requirements of Defence outputs, including operational effectiveness.

Whilst the MOD records the medical employability and deployability of Service personnel, more specific information about the level of sickness absence among women - or men - in the Armed Forces is not held centrally. As at 1 May 2019, medical employability for the trained UK Armed Forces was 98 per cent, with a male:female split of 98:97% respectively.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
294243
Session
2017-19
Subjects
Armed forces Women Sick leave
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk