Assembly workers each spent an average of eight days sick last year - down from 10 days in 2004.

Auditor General Jeremy Colman said the way sickness was now being managed had helped save up to £1.1m in staff time.

In a report today, Mr Colman said the reduction followed increased focus on the issue, including closer monitoring by senior management, better procedures for handling sickness absence and additional training. The recruitment of a full-time occupational health doctor helped focus attention on resolving long-term sickness absence cases.

Further developments are expected soon as the human resources department is in the process of introducing the new electronic Snowdrop system, providing better-quality information to managers at all levels on sickness absence trends.

But Mr Colman warned there was a risk that sickness absence rates could rise again because of ongoing organisational change, including the merger of the Welsh Assembly Government with a number of former Assem- bly-sponsored public bodies.

The report makes a number of recommendations to refine existing sickness absence procedures.

These include issuing additional guidance to line managers to clarify some of the details in the sickness absence policy and procedures and using the Snowdrop HR system to record and report sickness absence relative to contracted time lost.

Mr Colman said: 'Improved sickness absence management is producing better results across the National Assembly for Wales.

'This shows what can be achieved when organisations commit time and resources to tackling this issue. It is important that management in the National Assembly continues to keep a close watch on levels of sickness absence, especially during this period of change.'

The National Assembly employs around 6,500 staff, with budgeted staff costs of £222m for 2006-07.