French department’s English staff returned to hold party (8)
I believe the answer is:
dordogne
'french department's' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'english staff returned to hold party' is the wordplay.
'english' becomes 'eng' (abbreviation).
'staff' becomes 'rod' (both can mean a stick or cane).
'returned' says the letters should be written in reverse.
'to hold' is an insertion indicator.
'party' becomes 'do' (do is a kind of party).
'eng'+'rod'='engrod'
'engrod' in reverse letter order is 'dorgne'.
'dorgne' enclosing 'do' is 'DORDOGNE'.
(Other definitions for dordogne that I've seen before include "Popular holiday area of SW France" , "French region" , "French department" , "Department of SW France" .)