Dr WOODRUFF - Minister, can you confirm that since December last year 25 staff have left Child Safety, many of them on stress leave?
Mr JAENSCH - When you say staff have left, do you mean cease to be employed or are you asking for staff who have separated from the department as well as those who are on leave?
Dr WOODRUFF - Both would be great. But is it the case that there are 25 less people working in Child Safety since December last year?
Mr JAENSCH - I will ask Ms Lovell if she has numbers from December until now.
Ms LOVELL - I am not sure I understand the question well enough to give you that number, sorry.
Dr WOODRUFF - The allegation is that there has been a dramatic loss of staff from Child Safety. The number I have had given to me is 25, many on stress leave. The number that would be useful is how many staff have gone on stress leave in the last financial year, or since December? And how many have left employment with Child Safety?
Mr JAENSCH - Was that not the answer that you have just received in terms of the Children and Families Service stress claims on workers compensation for the last year?
Ms O'BYRNE - I think you are talking about people who have chosen to leave.
Dr WOODRUFF - People who are actually leaving.
Mr JAENSCH - You also asked about people who were away on stress leave in your question. I am trying to get you the answer to that.
Dr WOODRUFF - I am interested in how many less staff are there in Child Safety now than there were in December.
Mr JAENSCH - In net, because we have recruited during that time as well.
Dr WOODRUFF - Could you please give both of those numbers, not the net.
Ms LOVELL - I need to clarify that when we are talking about leave there is not a leave category titled stress leave, so it is medical leave and unplanned absence due to leave with a doctor's certificate. We do not classify based on the cause of that. I can give for each pay period or over a period of time, I can give figures for how many staff have been on leave but that could be because of illness.