SENIOR executives at the Environment Agency face new controversy after it
emerged last night that they received five-figure “performance bonuses”
shortly before the recent floods hit Britain.
Baroness Young, the quango’s chief executive, got a bonus of about £24,000 on
top of her £163,000 salary. A further eight executives, including the
director of water management, shared in the bonus handout last month. The
average paid to each executive was equivalent to 10% of their salaries,
although Young received 15%.
Details of the bonuses were to be revealed in the agency’s annual report,
which was expected to be released last week but publication has been delayed
due to the floods.
Board minutes also show that the agency’s top executives privately expressed
strong concerns last September about the country’s preparedness for serious
floods.
At a meeting on September 20 the board “expressed concern over the inadequacy
of evacuation plans in some areas of England and Wales and believed that
there may be a serious risk of loss of life in significant flood events”.
Gloucestershire, where thousands of homes have been flooded and at least three
people have died, was one of the local authorities that did not have an
evacuation plan. Tewkesbury borough council, which covers one of the
worst-hit towns, had also failed to make full preparations.
Young, a 59-year-old Labour peer, has warned that water bills will have to
rise to cover the costs of increasing Britain’s protection against flooding.
Her comments came as residents in the affected areas were braced for heavy
rainfall last night. Police urged people to stay at home and not to travel
because of fears of further flooding. Severe flood warnings were issued for
the Severn and Avon and 20,000 sandbags were distributed yesterday.
In Tewkesbury, firemen recovered a body, the third known victim of the
Gloucestershire floods. It was feared to be that of Mitchell Taylor, 19, a
local barman missing since last weekend.
The flooding of the Mythe waterworks near Tewkesbury has left 340,000 people
without running water and the situation is likely to last for days. There
are fears floodwaters are becoming dangerously contaminated because sewers
are not flood-proof. Tests have shown high levels of the deadly E coli bug
and other bacteria in floodwater, sparking fears of disease.
The disclosure of the bonuses will add to anger over the crisis. Professor
Dieter Helm, a flood expert at Oxford University, said: “The management of
flood defences in recent years has been a sorry tale of budget cuts, failure
to act on planning policies and inadequate precautionary measures. At the
centre lies the Environment Agency.”
Chris Huhne, the Liberal Democrats’ environment spokesman, said: “I very much
hope they are not trying to sneak through large bonuses at a time when they
would be very much in the firing line over some of the work that was not
done in the run-up to the floods.
“It is rather worrying the Environment Agency board signed off the accounts in
perfectly good time to present them to parliament before the recess on
Thursday, yet there seems to have been an unaccountable delay.”
The bonuses are based on performance targets. On July 11 a board meeting of
the agency, which also has responsibility for fighting pollution and
protecting wildlife, was told it had met 42 key targets and had missed only
three of its objectives – including the failure to “secure funding”.
This had allowed the executives to get their bonuses in June.
Most of the targets set for the agency are unconnected to floods or
environmental emergencies. For example, executives had to put in place plans
to tackle the decline in eels and “increase focus on a performance
management culture through developing our scorecard”.
Board minutes show that throughout 2006 and 2007 senior executives expressed
concern over the state of Britain’s flood defences. On July 12, 2006, it was
recorded that “urban drainage was an urgent area for action”.
By September 2006 the board had been warned that the Department for
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs intended to cut its funding by £14m. Sir
John Harman, the agency’s chairman, wrote to David Miliband, then the
environment secretary, to “express concern”.
Executives said the budgetary cuts represented “a significant threat to
effective business management”. The minutes continue: “It is unclear how
adequate flood emergency plans are and how often they are being reviewed;
some local authorities indicated their evacuation plans do not cover the
risk of flooding, even though the area may be at risk of flooding.”
In November 2006 the chairman wrote to Miliband to highlight “priority”
projects that would not be delivered because of the budget cut. These
included a programme to map areas at risk of flooding; cuts in channel
clearing and maintenance; and reductions in studies and data collection that
would “impact on future ability to warn and protect the right properties”.
On March 21, 2007 the board accepted it had not got enough money to respond
adequately to floods: “We are still a long way short of where all the
studies tell us we need to be to meet real needs for warning and protection
against floods.”
A spokeswoman for the Environment Agency defended the bonuses yesterday “The
flood planning worked well but some areas were just overwhelmed by the sheer
amount of water. The bonuses were rewarded to reflect success and
performance across a range of targets. They are modest compared to other
parts of the public sector and private sector,” she said. Brian Jennings,
49, who turned up at a flooded road in full uniform and driving a car with
flashing blue lights, has been accused of impersonating a firefighter in
Tewkesbury. He has been charged with obstructing an emergency worker and
remanded in custody.
"Flood chiefs get big cash bonuses"
WHY?
They cut spending on flood defences. Help cause the worst flooding disasters in over 60 years and they get "big cash bonuses?"
Again, I ask WHY?
And please do not tell us how bad the Tories were. (Which they were) But this is the second term of a Labour government.
And what have they done? Cut flood defence funding and given the money to Labour old faithfuls. Wonderful!
Martin, Telford, UK
Report delayed because of the Floods?
Did the Green Park lake overflow?
Minnie Ovens, LA, USA
Its simple, clean out the river, streams and ditches, the Environment Agency actively encourages the damming of streams and totally neglect the main drainage channels, this has the effect of restricting the flow of water onto the food plain, that is the ones that haven’t already been built on.
The old road bridge at Over restricts the flow of flood water, while it is a fine old structure it doesn’t keep the water out of our homes.
Excavation work is cheap compared to the provision of temporary barriers etc, I wonder who cleans the plug hole in Baroness Young’s bath!
Trevor Jeynes, Tewkesbury, Glos,
Why are tax-payers paying bonuses to public servants working for state agencies?
I don't earn £24,000 in a year. Why should my income tax payments go to award a woman who already earns £163,000? She's no better, no more intelligent, no more superior to me; she simply has her position because she has been in the right place at the right time from the right background with the right words.
My husband and I struggle to afford to keep our heads afloat. We both earn under the average wage (I don't earn even half of it), yet pay hundreds of pounds in tax every month -- so government can give the money to high earning Baroness Young?
It beggars belief.
Alex, Leeds, UK
They have a gaul to get bonuses when people now because of them have lost nearly everything.
If they had one ounce of decency and concern for human rights, and their fellow man they would;
Take all the bonuses and pool them.
Use this money to aid the most needy of the flood victims.
a know a pipe-dream, they probably really dont care, as "they got theirs".
Personally if they dont, I think the PM should make it so.
Then truly he would be a man of the people.
Kerry, London, UK
Baroness Young, the quango’s chief executive is a LABOUR peer.
Stop moaning about David Cameron and realise that if you want good management organisation vote Labour out!
David Cameron has been receiving criticism about creating reviews to base his policies on, and yet NOW Gordon Brown has just started to do the same thing.....
This means Gordon Brown is over 16 months behind David Cameron on that initiative.
A Sturgeon, London,
As resients of Cheltenham who have been without water for six days, we read that one of the targets set for the Environment Agency which they apparently fulfilled thus justifying their obscene bonuses was to, INCEASE FOCUS ON A PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT CULTURE THROUGH DEVELOPING OUR SCORE CARD. Can anybody tell me please what this means? I wonder if it is of any comfort to those trying to cope with flooded homes and who are without running water?
Neil McCart, Cheltenham, England
It does beggar belief ! There does seem to be a lot of evidence that the country was not prepared for what happened and that for 10 years lessions learnt and recommendations from various reports were not followed up.
Surely the benchmark for performance related bonuses is the practical rather than theoretical! The misery of those thousands of people who now know that, for the most, their plight was avoidable should be the benchmark for performance because if nothing else we vote in a government based on the expectation that it will govern for the benefit of it's people and put a high priority on maintaining and improving the welfare of the nation.
The Government of the past 10 years has been shown in this case to be very far from competent.
Danel Murphy, Dorchester, UK
I blame the Environment Agency for the worst rainfall in some places for sixty years. Whilst more could always be done have they really been negligent as is suggested?
For me it begs the question of how much the nation is prepared to pay for flood protection, and let us not forget that the Water companies and the local councils have a big role to play in flood prevention, not just the Environment Agency.
It's not economically viable to protect ourselves against every possible storm, so surely we should be doing a mixture of things, of which stopping building on flood plains, building more defences / bigger sewers (not reducing the funding!) and improving the flood warnings to affected people might just be a good start.
David Anderson, Minety, Gloucestershire
Usual for England eh, the so called experts line their pockets and the folk on the bottom of the pile can go to hell,
And you thought the goverment and so on cared about you!!!!!!
Whats neweh?
John Armitage, Le Taillan Medoc , France
Perhaps we should remember which Government privatised the water board. Profits must be made for the share holders.
I think the emergency services have done splendidly, and in this flood riden Town people have looked out for each other.
I hope the Environment Agency will learn from all this.
Stop looking for a scapgoat to blame.
Joan, Tewkesbury , Gloucestershire
its quiet clear,
the goverment have done their best,and we being without water for 7 days,my wife and i are happy with the distribution o
f water.
ok we cant do everything we normally do!
andrew, winchcombe, gloucestershire
Baroness Young has got a nerve a couple of days ago she said Water Bills would have to be increased to pay for Flood defences.She and the rest of the Quango should be sacked
and the bonuses should be taken off them.Like the remainder of this administration they are useless.
AMAC, St.Helens, England
In the immortal words of George W.
'Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job'.
Same name - same standards.
Doug, Glasgow.,
I agree with Farrukh. I cannot suppose anyone could've forcast the worst floods in 60 years. Nor do I suspect anyone would've batted an eyelid if this bonus went ahead had there been no flooding at all...maybe a short paragraph in the business section.
It's just the 2 coincidences make a nice story to throw at Cheif Executives - people to blame in a situation that's blameless. Another example of the "blame culture" whipped up by the media.
If you want a reason to blame, direct it toward the policy of building on flood plains.
nicemandan, London,
I'll go with that! Baroness Young had been impressive in defending herself in the early days of this - but these pariahs are clearly to be seen fiddling while Rome burns.
It's outrageous that her first thought is to anticipate and legitimise demands for more money from the vicitims of her and the water companies' mediocrity, when any intelligent person's first thought is to conclude that the water companies have no business referring to money they had been paid for maintenance as profit.
Sam Neill, Cardiff,
Tha't Labour for you. Providing they are able to set themselves meaningless targets that benefit no one but their own silk-lined pockets, they are content. As long as the eels are OK, who cares that people are losing their homes, possessions, sanitation, basic human needs? Let's comfort them with threats of rising utility bills for daring to intrude on our own comfort zone.
A prime example of the old adage "Power corrupts - absolute power corrupts absolutely". And to think I left Africa to escape the greed of politicians!
Shame on your house.
Louise, Gerrards Cross,
Labour got in with 20% of the vote. Lets al show our disgust with poiticians - don't vote
Mike, Denham, UK
Just how many more Quangos, Agencies, and "Great Departments of State" are paying out these big bonuses?
These people are well renumerated as it is, especialy considering the low quality of their decision making. In some countries, Japan for example, Office Holders such as Baroness Young would be expected to do the honourable thing and to resign.
W D Toulman, Walkington,
James of Tiverton, your views were endorsed at a conference in which I took part recently in Bern, Switzerland.
Whilst having my haircut at the barbers the general discussion addressed the apathy by the English people when confonted by an obvious total failure of the drainage authorities to provide adequate drainage - the consensus was that "they (the English) only riot about football!"
Football is seen as the opium of a people under the heel of an "enforce and control" government and its agencies.
So don't worry, a new football season is about to begin, floods or no floods! After all, that surely is the "spirit of Dunkirk".
j.kelleway, bern, switzerland
I am against bonuses full stop. You do your job, and you get a fair wage. If you don't do your job properly, you should be required to improve or face the sack. The idea you should get a big fat additional cheque for doing what you should be doing anyway, is pathetic.
L. Thompson, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
For the information of Bob Evans,Anaheim there are targets,goals and expectations in the United Kingdom public sector.
Ignatius, Glasgow, UK
My village only flooded because these guys refused to do their job of keeping our river free from weeds. We pleaded with them time and time again. When we tried to do the job ourselves they threatened us with court action. They said the habitat of the frogs and flies was more important. Now virtually everyhouse in my village has been under three feet of water - a problem the insurance companies pay not the Environment Agency, unless that is someone sues them? Perhaps the fat cats should donate their bonuses to the many who were floooded but uninsured - they lost everything. Wouldn't that be a decent thing to do.
Steve Watts, Bucklebury, Berks, UK
Why are people so surprised at this practise - it's the British way. Bonuses are paid whether the job is well done or it's a disaster so there is no incentive to succeed.
Jobs at the top are not worked on the principle of bonus IF you make a success of it but a bonus whatever happens.
I bet the board of the shipping line that owned the TITANIC didn't get a bonus - but they would have today.
G J BUNTON, SLOUGH, BERKSHIRE
I hope they will have to give this money back.
Ja, London,
Why does this not surprise me. The british people better start waking up to the reality of the situation they're finding themselves in and soon. All i have heard for the last six months is how different a prime minister brown would be to blair. Yes he appears to be less slimy, vane or even as narcassistic as blair is. But study his voting record. listen closely to what he says and you will see that he has exactly the same contempt for the british people that blair had. What has this got to do with the floods? This is a man who is talking about building "affordable new homes" in this country to house all the east european cheap economic immigrants in this country. And you can bet that they will continue to build them on low prestige land that is vulnerable to the kind of floods that we have seen over the last two months. Don't even mention man made global warming to me because it has no bearing on this issue at all as i see a few areas of the media are claiming.
simon, warrington,
Why on earth are workers in the public service [Environment Agency, BBC and so on] not paid a straight salary?
What is used as a yardstick for these additional enormous bonuses?
TonyJ, Swanage, UK
Baroness Young and the Environment Agency have been warning for years about the inadequate levels of investment in flood defences. Despite this the Agency was subject to not one but two rounds of cuts - and this was to cove for mistakes in another department which messed up a farm payments scheme.
The Agency has done the best it could with the inadequate resources it has been given.
The real culprits are the ministers who have ignored the agency and under-invested over the years - and it seems to me that they now wish to pick on the Environment Agency as a convenient Scapegoat.
Dean Morrison, Hastings, East Sussex
perhaps Baroness Young will do the honourable thing and resign... but as I say... perhaps ...
Howard, Milton Keynes, UK
It's a joke. isn,t it. Government Employees get bonus payments for "meeting Criteria". As, Bob Evans said, if they were in the private sector they would probably be sacked but because they (including Baroness Young - at just short of £200k per annum) are part of the Public Sector - they get away with it. This Labour Government is taking us all for a ride. Mass immigration, above inflation council tax rises and below inflation pension rises. Please get rid of McBrown and all his Scottish cronies. We don't want them in England!
Derek, Bristol, England
Greed Graft Greed Graft Greed Graft Greed Graft
paul, S london,
Simple really - just demand that they give their fat bonuses back. I love Neil McCart's comment. Sounds like the rubbish we hear in the NHS from managers and their HR buddies. When are people going to wake up to this nonsense and see that this so-called management science (a science, really? Where are the randomised control studies?) is like the king who has no clothes?
Dr Ian Burgess, Bristol,
We have arrived at a disgraceful situation when to 'tackle the decline in eels' becomes more important than flood defences!
The dangers were drawn to the attention of Environment Secretary last year by Sir John Harman and senior executives, and again this year.
Did he totally ignore them?
In any other circumstance it would be laughable, but awarding bonuses under these circumstances is characteristic of the misguided way in which incompetence is rewarded in the public sector and taxpayers eventually pick up the tab.
Do those who failed to provide flood emergency plans live in an area which is now flooded?
This calls for an urgent investigation into the gross negligence of people in high places who ignored the obvious warning signs.
Annie , Bath, UK
As residents of Cheltenham who have been without running tap water for six days, but who are more fortunate that many in this area who have had their homes flooded and are without any running water supplies, my wife and I are utterly disgusted and very angry that these people, who should be explaining their departmental failures before a Public Inquiry, are instead collecting huge cash bonuses. It is quite clear that both Governmental Agencies and the privatised utility companies have been cost-cutting to such an extent that they are running on a "shoestring" hoping that nothing goes wrong. We have now seen what happens when unforseen emergencies hit an area - total confusion and unpreparedness on behalf of certain Government agencies. The Police, Fire Service and Armed Forces have borne the brunt of this emergency and have managed magnificently (despite their own spending cuts). It just beggars belief - there are a lot of angry people in this area.
Neil McCart, Cheltenham, England
Have a quick token rant, maybe even elect an administration of different bureacrats and gravy-train quango hi-Carbon footprint globe-trotters, pay them even more than we have already all been robbed for, then sit back and watch it all deteriorate over the decade and a half you and your country still have left..........Apparently, we all want underwater houses, a Millenium dome (for a year) and two unwinnable wars FAR MORE than we could ever want a world class NHS and education system, or some wages left in our pocket after tax.........
harry mash, truro, cornwall
As residents of Cheltenham, who have been without water for six days now, but who are more fortunate that many people in this area who have been flooded out and have had to go without any running water in their taps, my wife and I are utterly disgusted by this news. These people should be explaining their Departmental failures, not being rewarded for implementing spending cuts to such an extent that the country runs on a "shoestring", hoping that nothing goes wrong. Unfortunately, we have seen what happens when things do go wrong - total unpreparedness and confusion on behalf of certain Government Agencies. It beggars belief that we should be equired to pay higher bills to pay for cost of adequate flood defences when these people are being paid obscene bonuses.
Neil McCart, Cheltenham, England
the normal people who work for the Environment Agency and other government bodies do not get bonuses. In fact, for the past few years they've been getting pay cuts - as their pay rises have been less than inflation (this includes nurses). Given this is the case, it's disgusting to hear of these senior staff bonuses. Seemingly it's one rule for the them and a different one for everyone else.
Joan, Bedfordshire,
We read that one of the targets set for the Environment Agency which they apparently fulfilled thus justifying their obscene bonuses was to, "Increase focus on a performance management culture through developing our score card" - can anybody tell me please what this means? Wonder if it is of any comfort to those trying to cope with flooded homes and who are without running water?
Neil McCart, Cheltenham, England
No doubt the targets that these civil servants had to reach were set by themselves based on the notion that if you can tick enough boxes then you will get five-figure bonuses, proving the point that target setting and statistics can be a total farce. It is bad enough that civil servants in the MOD were given bonuses for achieving targets whilst our service personnel were being killed and maimed in Afghanistan and Iraq often without the essential equipment, weapons and bullets plus air support but now another group of civil servants are paid five-figure bonuses for, allegedly, being incompetent and not having plans in place to deal with flooding whilst thousands of people have lost their possessions and their homes are flooded. This country is a damned laughing stock and yet no one, certainly not in national and local government, is to blame?
Kenneth Armitage, Suffolk, England
I would not call this "corruption." Rather it seems an example of managerial science in action. Business and management schools are full of emphasis upon commissioning studies, building teams, setting goals and performance targets, etc. This is all supposed to help managers accomplish practical ends. But there is a danger of this stuff becoming an end in itself. A bureaucracy (public or business) can keep very busy and meet all sorts of notional "performance targets" without ever actually accomplishing much in practice. It's rather like a church which keeps continually busy with meetings and committees but has not had a new convert in years.
No, the executives in question are not guilty of trying to rip off the public. What they have done is lost sight of what their true priorities should be. They have received a very clear wake-up call.
D.L. Anderson, Crossett, AR/U.S.A.
I don't see the problem with all the bonuses etc as it's the norm in practically all corrupt third world countries so why should our incompetent leaders miss out. It may have escaped many in this countries attention but have you noticed how we now reward and pander to the failure, yet criticise and downplay success in the name of political correctness. We now have a country where practically every essential service is in melt down and run by educated idiots whose main priority in life appears to be how much public money they can trouser without being caught. All we need now in this country are shanty towns springing up, Oops I forgot we already have them in Swindon.
Steve P, Leeds, England
There's a surprise!
Read Royal Mail for this type of bonus scheme-seems a very British thing to do and an absolute corrupt thing to do as well.
john, shrewsbury, uk
Up until the floods they were doing a fairly good job so why raise a pre-flood bonus as if somehow they were responsible for the bad weather? Fault finding, especially when it is misdirected is simply a testament to the media's role in aggravating an already difficult time by diverting attention from what needs to happen, to something which is entirely irrelevant i.e. their pre flood bonuses.
As if holding back their bonuses would pay for better flood prevention!
Farrukh, Woking,
The £14M deducted from the enviromental budget is chicken feed compared with the money wasted on the illegal and criminal invasion of Iraq. It has been a complete failure as well as resulting in the deaths of up to 600,000 Iraqis. I believe the cost of the Iraq invasion is at least in the region of five billion pounds. Just imagine how such a sum could have benifited the people of this country. Hospitals, flood protection, repairs to our disintergrating road system and many other items that are crying out for attention.
The government and those MPs who voted for this illegal war should bow the heads in shame and apologise to both the British people and the population of Iraq for the devfastation they have inflicted on both countries.
Derek Knights, Ashford Middlesex, England
How come this isn't surprising? This is the 'line the back pocket' Government didn't you know? It is happening all over every Government department and Government run facility ALL THE TIME. There is only one way to restore decency. VOTE THEM OUT and demand more accountability from the next lot.
Judy , Liverpool, england
I have always been perplexed by the concept of bonuses being awarded to those in governmental agencies. The argument is always made that high salaries and bonuses are necessary to hire and retain people to keep them from "jumping" to the private sector.
Why not let them test the private sector. There, unlike the public sector, there are targets, goals, and expectations to be met. If not met, people are fired. In the public sector, failures and Incompetence are met with bonuses, retention, and/or the hiring of someone else on the payroll to do the job.
Bob Evans, Anaheim, California
Pretty well anyone who works for the state is doing well under New Labour. With huge amounts of tax grab to squander on bureaucrats and jobsworths with not a whimper of protest from a spineless, compliant, subjugated population it is hardly surprising they take ever more tax and redistribute it to the undeserving. This time in the form of bonuses to reward those whose inefficiency and incompetence meant that here were no effective flood defences in place. Next comes another tax increase to reward them again, plus rewarding the privatised companies who neglected maintenance of the drainage system. The French would be setting fire to cars in Westminster in protest over this. What will the British do? Pay up without so much as a whimper then pay up again in a few years time when the same thing happens again because all the money was squandered by the same incompetents who are being rewarded now.
James, Tiverton , Devon
targets for environment are set by whom and who has the experience to judge whether a management style based on commercial rewards is suitable for an agency such as this?
john haydon rowe, el ejido, spain
Hardly surprising, the UK is full of quangos and organisations that think that being productive is sitting behind a computer writing reports. The level and effectiveness of investment in the infrastructure is pathetic, the question being - how can services already be so expensive in the UK whilst so poor? - the answer? - pen pushers burning tax payers money, debating meaninglessely to little effect because it never gets implemented.
Regardng the climate change argument, this flooding has nothing to do with climate change - the climatic effect of a faster jet stream passing over the Rocky mountains and causing the stream to bounce over the UK is well documented and has happened frequently in the past. The flooded areas have always been flood plains; what exacerbates it is human practices such as modern farming, cutting down woodlands and building a man-made infrastructure that accelerates run off. What do we expect? Everyone behaves like they are surprised this has happened
Henry Northcroft, London,
Gordon Brown needs to get on top of this and clean up Labour's act. There is a widespread perception, based on a certain degree of underlying truth as in the case reported here, that the public purse is being milked by the "cronies". There can be no justification for these payments, or some of the others that have been reported, for example, early retirement scandals in the health service and police forces. This culture of pocket-lining flourished under Blair (and the Tories before Blair), but Brown needs to crack down on it if he wishes to regain the trust of the electorate. Do something about it, Gordon.
Simon Warwick, London,
Baroness Young spouts that we will have to pay more in our Water Bills to pay for Flood Defences. I think she should be fired for coming up with that idiotic idea!
First of all Water Utility companies are only responsible for Supplying clean drinking water and providing sewage services. They are NOT, repeat NOT responsible for undertaking civil engieering projects such as Flood defence!
The Government on the other hand through local government and the Environment Agecy ARE responsible for Flood defence engineering. Who should be paying for Flood Defence? Well certainly not the tax payer!. Its the responsabilty of government to pay for Flood Defence Projects , they can obtain funding from the EU. But for some reason this is something they dont like admiting to!
Edward, Newbury, England
If the bonuses are based on the executives meeting their targets and the perception of the people of this country is that they are doing a lousy job, as evidenced by the recent flood disasters, then the Targets are a complete sham. Identifying problems but not acting on them is something we can all do without the benefit of a six figure salary. The weather forecasters saw it coming and where were the flood barriers? – Stuck in a traffic jam caused by the floods. It is of course a possibility that I have made a complete misjudgement and had it not been for their phenomenal performance the recent flood disasters would have been on an even larger scale. I am afraid this is stretching our imagination beyond the realm of credibility. We should not be expected to pay people on inflated salaries a bonus based meeting phoney targets that fail the country when the crunch comes.
John Duggan, brighton, uk
As it 's public money, let the public know the names and addresses of these failures, and we can make up our own minds what to do about their dereliction of duty. If it's left to them and their cronies, nothing at all will happen.
Lezli Taubler, London, UK
The whole flood disaster is anothe example of Blairs spin government mis-management. Now we will get a knee jerk reaction with planty of promises made most of which will never be fulfilled as the flooding subsides and a new crisis appears. The Environment Agency needs more money for flood defences and stronger powers to force negligent councils to have emergency plans in place. I also wonder what professional environmental qualifications Baroness Young has in order to qualify as chief executive of the Environment Agency? Successful corporations work as the people at the top know what they are doing and often work within a flat organisational structure.
Matt Clark, London, uk
No doubt the "performance" which earned them these bonuses was success in cutting spending on practical measures.
In Derby the Environment Agency took over a 10% section of waterway so reducing the grant for the Local Authority . Real items can't be bought and real work such as de-silting can't be done now.
Silver Struggler Derby
Mrs Anne Morgan, Derby,
A discussion at the Environmental Agency:
"Weather forecast looks like a lot of rain".
"Is that so? Anybody know how we're fixed for flood control?"
"Have to ask the engineers".
"O.K. In the meantime we'd better make sure our bonuses are paid pretty sharply".
john problem, london,
Now that they've got the loot, give'em something to carry it home in.
The Sack.
Llezli Taubler, London, UK
A bloody disgrace.They should ALL be sacked.Baroness Young is a joke.
Michael J Rigby, Blackburn, England
As a physics teacher (rare breed) in a state school I have consistently reached my Key Stage 3, Key Stage 4 and A level targets over decades of teaching. Could I have my performance bonus next month please?
Grahame Veale, Newton Abbot,