Environment Agency chair returns from Caribbean holiday amid criticism

Sir Philip Dilley, who spent Christmas in Barbados, criticised for failing to visit flood-hit areas to explain what his agency is doing

The head of the Environment Agency is returning from holiday in the Caribbean amid criticism about his absence from the UK as the body deals with some of the country's worst flooding in decades.

After avoiding the question of Sir Philip Dilley's whereabouts following reports he was at his luxury home on Barbados, the agency finally released a statement shortly before lunchtime on Tuesday saying he had spent Christmas on the island with his family.