Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the total cost was of (a) settlement agreements and (b) special severance payments made to departing staff in the last year.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
For the last financial year, the total cost to Defra of payments associated with settlement agreements is set out in pg. 167 of Annual Report and Accounts. Where relevant, this includes special severance payments that have associated settlement agreements.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 8 May 2025 to Question 45822 on Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Equality, if she will publish the Freedom of Information Act response with reference FOI2025/24724, disclosed on 2 December 2025.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Freedom of Information Act response has been published and can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/staff-numbers-in-the-hr-equality-diversity-and-inclusion-edi-team-foi202524724.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many performance reviews were undertaken for staff in (a) her Department and (b) its agencies in each of the last five years; in how many such cases performance was rated as unsatisfactory or below; how many staff left as a result of such a rating; and what proportion of full-time equivalent staff this represented.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The following table summarises the information held on the total number of performance ratings where these were available, and the number of cases where a rating was unsatisfactory or below. Please note that the policy for performance management has changed over this period. End-year performance ratings were removed for most staff in April 23. From this date performance ratings are only collected for Senior Civil Servants in APHA, RPA, VMD and Core Defra, senior leaders in NE, and all staff in EA.
Additionally, NE ratings for senior leaders are collated by NE directly and are not included in the data below from April 23 onwards.
The reportable data Defra holds does not include the reason for a dismissal and therefore a link to performance rating cannot be made. This limitation means that the requested information on number of staff who left because of a poor performance rating, and the proportion this represents, is not available.
Organisation | Financial Year | Number of performance ratings | Number of cases where performance was unsatisfactory or below |
Core Defra | 2020-2021 | 4720 |
|
2021-2022 | 5873 | 15 | |
2022-2023 | 5856 |
| |
2023-2024** | 182 |
| |
2024-2025** | 184 | 10 | |
Agencies (APHA, EA, NE, RPA, VMD) | 2020-2021* | 14975 | 29 |
2021-2022 | 17768 | 54 | |
2022-2023 | 20438 | 44 | |
2023-2024** | 12925 | 40 | |
2024-2025** | 13154 | 29 |
*No ratings available for RPA.
**SCS only for APHA, RPA, VMD, Core Defra, no ratings available for NE.
c. These numbers are suppressed in accordance with the Defra data protection policy.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the average number of working days lost to sickness absence per full-time equivalent member of staff was in (a) her Department and (b) its executive agencies in the last year; and how many formal performance warnings were issued to staff whose absence exceeded departmental triggers.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In relation to the average number of working days lost to sickness absence, as of year ending 31 October 2025, Defra can confirm the following:
Department/Agency | Average Working Days Lost |
Core Defra | 4.4 |
APHA | 5.7 |
RPA | 7.6 |
VMD | 2.4 |
Cefas | 3.83 |
The Cabinet Office publishes statistics on Civil Service average working days lost in regular reports, which can be found here: Sickness absence in the Civil Service - GOV.UK. The next update will be for the year ending 31 March 2025. These figures are published for core Defra, but not for the other organisations.
The data requested regarding ‘formal performance warnings’ is not captured centrally for Defra so it is not available for reporting here.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many employment tribunal claims have been lodged against her Department in each of the last five years for (a) unfair dismissal and (b) claims under the Equality Act 2010.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra’s casework data is held for three years from the date of case closure.
Over the last three years, Defra received 33 Employment Tribunal claims on the grounds of Unfair Dismissal or under the Equality Act. The 33 cases are broken down into the following:
Financial Year 2022-23 = total of 9 cases
Financial Year 2023-24 = total of 11 cases
Financial Year 2024-25 = total of 7 cases
Financial Year 2025-26 = total of 6 cases to date
The information requested for the older two years is not held centrally and to obtain it would incur disproportionate costs.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 8 May 2025 to Question 45822 on Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Equality, for what reason her Department no longer holds that information centrally.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs does not hold information centrally on job titles and has not done so in the past. Collating this information would come at a disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the annual budget was for (a) Natural England, (b) the Environment Agency, and (c) the Office for Environmental Protection in each year since 2005.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The annual budget figures for Natural England, the Environment Agency, and the Office for Environmental Protection in each year since 2005 can be found as follows.
Natural England’s actual spend data can be found in their Annual Report and Accounts, which are published here: Natural England annual reports and accounts - GOV.UK.
Environment Agency’s actual spend data can be found in their Annual Report and Accounts, which are published here: Environment Agency annual reports and accounts - GOV.UK.
The Office for Environmental Protection’s actual spend data can be found in their Annual Report and Accounts, which are published here: Our reports and publications | Office for Environmental Protection.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many people have been employed by (a) the Water Services Regulation Authority and (b) the Forestry Commission in each year since 2005.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Water Services Regulation Authority (Ofwat) publishes figures on staff numbers and budget in its annual report and accounts. These can be found listed on GOV.UK or among Ofwat’s other publications on its website. The sharp rise in both budget and staffing from 2023 reflects Ofwat’s expanded regulatory role, including oversight of water companies’ commitments for 2025-2030.
The Forestry Commission publishes figures on staff numbers and budget in its annual report and accounts. These are publicly available on GOV.UK. Forestry England, an agency of the Forestry Commission, self-generates a significant proportion of its income.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the annual budget was for the (a) Water Services Regulation Authority and (b) Forestry Commission in each year since 2005.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Water Services Regulation Authority (Ofwat) publishes figures on staff numbers and budget in its annual report and accounts. These can be found listed on GOV.UK or among Ofwat’s other publications on its website. The sharp rise in both budget and staffing from 2023 reflects Ofwat’s expanded regulatory role, including oversight of water companies’ commitments for 2025-2030.
The Forestry Commission publishes figures on staff numbers and budget in its annual report and accounts. These are publicly available on GOV.UK. Forestry England, an agency of the Forestry Commission, self-generates a significant proportion of its income.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many (a) Equality Impact Assessments and (b) equality screenings have been produced by her Department in the last three months.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
In line with the Equality Act 2010, Defra encourages and promotes the completion of Equality Impact Assessments to ensure our policies and decisions consider impacts on protected groups.
Defra does not hold information centrally on Equality Impact Assessments that have been produced by the department and is therefore unable provide details on the number produced. We do not carry out Equality Screenings, instead requiring teams to always demonstrate due regard to the aims of the Act and use the Equality Impact Assessment form.
To provide the information requested Defra would be required to contact all teams and this would incur disproportionate costs.