Civil service absence off target

Sickness absence levels in NI civil service are still not meeting government targets, NI Statistics and Research Agency figures have revealed.

Although, the latest research shows sick levels have decreased this year from 13.7 to 12.9 days, they are still short of the 9.5 day target.

Finance Minister Nigel Dodds said it was important levels kept falling.

In May, the Public Accounts Committee said NI civil service sickness levels were double that of the private sector.

"Long term absence is an area which we need to target for particular attention and action," Mr Dodds said.

"The need for action in this area has been reinforced by the Northern Ireland Audit Office and more recently by the Public Accounts Committee in their hard-hitting reports.

"However, in accepting that more work is required to tackle the high levels of sickness absence across the civil service, I believe that it is important to acknowledge that over 43% of staff had no sick absence at all during 2007/2008.