To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many and what proportion of people with disabilities employed by the Southern Regional Office of the Environment Agency have left employment within one year of joining. (149544)

As required by the Disability Discrimination Acts 1995 and 2005, Environment Agency applicants are invited to declare if they have a disability, however this is entirely voluntary.

170 staff are employed by the Environment Agency in its Southern Regional Office. In the last 12 months 27 staff have left the Environment Agency. They did not declare themselves as being disabled.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what mechanisms are in place in the Southern Regional Office of the Environment Agency to recruit and retain (a) people with disabilities and (b) people from a black or minority ethnic background; and if he will make a statement. (149545)

The Environment Agency's Southern Regional Office complies with the national diversity policy and actively seeks to improve its recruitment and selection process to fully represent the population it serves.