The ministry that oversees the countryside has managed to spend £70 million on redundancy payments at the same time as recruiting 600 new staff – despite a jobs freeze.

Since the General Election nearly 18 months ago the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has slashed 1,700 posts – but instead of re-deploying more staff has continued to hire new people.

And each of those positions made redundant has on average cost the public purse £39,167

Labour has accused Defra of wasting money destined for vital flood defences and reviving rural communities.

The cost of axing staff within the department and its 15 agencies to tackle the deficit was exposed in Government answers to written Parliamentary questions. Redundancies costing a total of £69.6 million were the result of 1,777 people leaving Defra and its quangos since May last year. At the same time, 584 new staff have been recruited, despite a jobs freeze.

The disclosure will raise questions about whether the much-criticised department is a fit custodian of the countryside and has the clout to help struggling farmers.

Most of the pay-offs have come from a jobs cull at Defra itself, the Environment Agency and Natural England, which manages wildlife habitats.

The figures underline the scale of the Defra shake-up after it was ordered by Chancellor George Osborne to slash its budget by 29 per cent by 2015.

Mary Creagh, Labour’s Shadow Environment Secretary, said: “Defra Ministers have spent £70 million on making people redundant since the General Election, money that could have been spent building flood defences or creating jobs for young people to improve the natural environment.”

Defra plays a key role for many in the rural West.

Responsibilities include tackling tuberculosis in cattle, which is rife in parts of the region, and underwriting river and sea protection schemes to mitigate floods.

After last October’s comprehensive spending review, estimates suggested Defra and its agencies could lose up 8,000 jobs from a 30,000-strong workforce. Ministers said both the Environment Agency and Natural England would be “substantially reformed”.

According to the Parliamentary questions, some 722 staff have left Defra and its executive agencies, costing just short of £29 million, since May 2010. The Environment Agency has seen around 650 staff depart, at a cost of £27 million, and 294 have gone at Natural England, costing £11 million in redundancies. The Commission for Rural Communities, a key research body based in Cheltenham, has cut 40 staff but many have been absorbed to Defra itself.

A Defra spokesman said: “Following the spending review there is a requirement across the Defra network to reduce our admin budgets by a third. The exits that have taken place since May 2010 were made to help achieve those savings and have delivered value for money.”

He said any new recruits had to be to fill critical positions.