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<p>The Department and its Agencies have provided the responses below for the period
1 May 2018 to 30 April 2019.</p><ol><li>The number of staff that took sickness absence
due to stress was 553. The Department and its agencies employed a total of 14,956
employees at the end of April 2019.</li><li>Of the total number of staff that took
sickness absence, the proportion due to stress was 7.57%. The proportion of working
days lost to stress, out of all days lost due to sickness absence, was 14.33%.</li><li>The
total cost of working days lost to sickness absence for the period above is estimated
at £13,710,056.78.</li></ol><p> </p><p>The Department has a number of sources of support
for employees including a free-to-use Employee Assistance Programme, which offers
up to six counselling sessions at a convenient location within days of referral, and
a Wellbeing Buddy Network run by volunteers. It has also launched a Mental Health
First Aid service run by trained volunteers for colleagues in immediate emotional
distress.</p><p>The Department recognises the importance of the line manager in mental
health, and has a resource available for line managers to provide guidance on managing
colleagues with mental health difficulties/issues. It has also launched Wellbeing
Action Plans, to guide line managers in conversations about wellbeing, including in
relation to mental health.</p><p> </p>
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