Environment Agency chief admits regulator buries freedom of information requests

Duffy also suggested that the manner in which questions into pollution and the state of England’s waterways were being lodged made it more difficult for Environment Agency staff to respond. Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

The head of the Environment Agency has admitted that freedom of information requests have been buried by the regulator because the truth about the environment in England is “embarrassing”.

Philip Duffy, the body’s chief executive, told an audience at the UK River Summit in Morden, south London, this week that his officials were “worried about revealing the true state of what is going on” with regards to the state of the environment.