Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 5 November 2014
111. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of occurrences and total number of days lost through sick absences in the case of members of the Prison Service, excluding civilians, in 2013 to the end of August 2014. [42358/14]
View answer112. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of occurrences and total number of days lost through self-certified sick absences in the case of members of the Prison Service, excluding civilians, in 2013 and to the end of August 2014. [42359/14]
View answer113. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of days self-certified sick leave allowed to a member of the Prison Service, excluding civilians, per year; and the regulations applied to the number of such days as a result of reform of the sick leave arrangements in the public service in 2014. [42360/14]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 111 to 113, inclusive, together.
I can advise the Deputy that the new Public Service Sick Leave Scheme came into effect from 31 March 2014. The Scheme is set out in the Public Service Management (Sick Leave) Regulations S.I. 124 of 2014 and, generally, applies to all public servants, including staff of the Irish Prison Service. The new Sick Leave Scheme was introduced, following the enactment of the Public Service Management (Recruitment and Appointments)(Amendment) Act 2013 by the Oireachtas.
The new provisions allow staff access to the following paid sick leave:
- a maximum of 92 days on full pay in a rolling one year period;
- followed by a maximum of 91 days on half pay in a rolling one year period;
- subject to a maximum of 183 days paid sick leave in a rolling four year period.
With regard to self-certified sick leave, the Scheme allows for:
- no more than 7 days of self-certified sick leave in a rolling 2 year period, counting backwards from the day before the latest date of absence;
- the duration of the absence on self-certified sick leave shall not be longer than 2 days in any instance.
There was a 38.3% decrease in the amount of self-certified sick leave taken by Irish Prison Service staff in 2013 compared to 2012. There has been a further reduction of almost 2% in the amount of such sick leave taken between January and August of this year compared to the same period last year. The figures requested by the Deputy in relation to self-certified sick leave are as follows:
|
Period |
Number of staff |
Number of days |
|
2013 |
2685 |
5485 |
|
Jan to Aug 2014 |
2311 |
3722 |
The figures requested by the Deputy in relation to overall sick leave in the Irish Prison Service are contained in the following table. In conjunction with the implementation of the revised sick leave regulations for civil servants, the Irish Prison Service has introduced a number of measures to manage sick leave, including; twice yearly sick leave review meetings in all prisons, a new attendance management policy, a new accommodations policy which aims to facilitate a return to work at the earliest opportunity, a focus on sick leave at monthly HR Governor meetings and greater monitoring of the application of the sick leave regulations across the prison estate.
There has been a 13.7% decrease in the amount of sick leave taken by staff of the Irish Prison between January and August of this year compared to the same period last year. This has resulted in a saving of over €700,000 and, through improved attendance, greater access to services for prisoners.
|
Period |
Number of staff |
Number of days |
|
2013 |
3041 |
41,226 |
|
Jan to Aug 2014 |
2806 |
24,021 |
