Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment she has made of (a) staff shortages and (b) real terms pay in the Environmental Agency.

The Environment Agency’s (EA’s) staff are vital to its work to protect the environment, people and wildlife from harm.

The EA aims to achieve the best possible settlement for all its employees within the constraints of the Government pay guidance and in negotiation with Trade Unions.

The EA is at the beginning of a planned recruitment campaign into roles identified and funded through the most recent spending review, which comprise the majority of its vacancies, in order to deliver on the goals of its corporate report: EA2025.

The EA is covered by the annually published Civil Service Pay Remit Guidance, which sets out headline ranges for average pay awards. It is recognised that these headlines ranges are not currently in line with inflation.