Image copyright Thinkstock Image caption More than one-in-ten civil servants had at least one long-term absence lasting

Civil service staff in Northern Ireland were off sick for an average of 11.7 days in the last year, an increase from 10.8 days in the previous year.

The figure is above the annual target of 8.5 days, and equated to an estimated £32.7m of lost production.

Half of staff had no recorded absence while more than one in 10 had at least one long-term absence lasting an average of nearly three months.

This was the highest incidence of long-term absence in the last five years.

It accounted for nearly three-quarters of all working days lost.

The figures point to a particular problem in the NI Prison Service, with prison grade staff off sick for an average of 23.8 days.

More than a quarter of prison grade staff had a long-term absence during the year and the average length of these absences was 69.6 days.

As in previous years, the main reasons for absence across the civil service were anxiety, stress, depression and other psychiatric illnesses.

These conditions account for one out of every three days lost.

The former Department for Social Development made the biggest contribution to the overall increase in absence level for 2015/2016, accounting for almost two-thirds of the rise.

Around 25,000 people are civil servants for Stormont departments.