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Written question asked by Tom Brake (Liberal Democrat) on Thursday, 9 February 2006, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 13 February 2006. It was answered by Paul Goggins (Labour) on Wednesday, 1 March 2006 on behalf of the Home Office.

Traffic Enforcement Staff

Question
To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many (a) traffic enforcement officers, (b) traffic wardens and (c) council parking attendants have been operating in each police authority area in each year since 2002–03.
Answer

I have been asked to reply.The available statistics are given in the table. Information on council parking attendants is not collected centrally.Police officers ‘traffic' function includes staff who are predominantly employed on motor-cycles or in patrol vehicles for the policing of traffic and motorway related duties. This includes officers employed in accident investigation, vehicle examination and radar duties. This also includes staff who are predominantly employed to support the traffic function of the force including radar, accident investigation, vehicle examination and traffic administration. Also included are those officers working with hazardous chemicals and those administrative staff predominantly serving the internal needs of the traffic function of the force and those officers/staff in supporting roles.

Traffic Wardens by police force area—2003 to 2005 Full-time equivalent(9)
As at 31 March
Force 2003 2004 2005
Avon and Somerset 43 34 0
Bedfordshire 2 2 0
Cambridgeshire 35 17 0
Cheshire 19 15 17
Cleveland 7 8 0
Cumbria 0 0 0
Derbyshire 48 43 25
Devon and Cornwall 103 102 96
Dorset 0 0 0
Durham 15 4 0
Dyfed-Powys 13 10 10
Essex 38 21 8
Gloucestershire 31 21 16
Greater Manchester 88 88 90
Gwent 27 25 21
Hampshire 25 23 16
Hertfordshire 38 9 0
Humberside 48 46 45
Kent 0 0 0
Lancashire 50 17 2
Leicestershire 61 51 26
Lincolnshire 21 18 20
London, City of 0 0 0
Merseyside 52 43 10
Metropolitan police 687 505 449
Norfolk 33 31 28
Northamptonshire 7 5 4
Northumbria 59 56 51
North Wales 7 5 4
North Yorkshire 0 10 0
Nottinghamshire 29 33 12
South Wales 99 92 82
South Yorkshire 68 37 18
Staffordshire 10 1 0
Suffolk 25 25 20
Surrey 17 8 5
Sussex 61 67 62
Thames Valley 42 36 24
Warwickshire 9 8 4
West Mercia 15 13 9
West Midlands 74 72 66
West Yorkshire 98 85 42
Wiltshire 7 5 1
Total 2,108 1,688 1,281
(9) Many forces have transferred responsibility for parking controls to the respective district/unitary authority, which has resulted in some forces not having any traffic wardens by March 2005.
(10) This table contains full-time equivalent figures that have been rounded to the nearest whole number. Because of rounding there may be an apparent discrepancy between totals and the sums of the constituent items. Full-time equivalent figures includes those on career breaks or maternity/paternity leave.
Police officers whose main function is ““Traffic”” by police force area—2003 to 2005 Full-time equivalent(11)
As at 31 March
2003 2004 2005
Avon and Somerset 216 222 228
Bedfordshire 75 80 80
Cambridgeshire 85 99 101
Cheshire 194 200 194
Cleveland 64 73 2
Cumbria 107 110 108
Derbyshire 107 121 116
Devon and Cornwall 192 198 211
Dorset 91 86 82
Durham 111 119 108
Dyfed Powys 136 105 141
Essex 241 242 243
Gloucestershire 62 66 67
Greater Manchester 406 392 359
Gwent 93 95 96
Hampshire 248 246 244
Hertfordshire 150 151 149
Humberside 123 119 225
Kent 104 — 122
Lancashire 198 187 190
Leicestershire 92 95 85
Lincolnshire 90 89 96
London, City of 24 24 28
Merseyside 125 119 115
Metropolitan police 583 592 1,029
Norfolk 120 121 107
Northamptonshire 70 71 65
Northumbria 245 253 165
North Wales 115 114 76
North Yorkshire 151 138 101
Nottinghamshire 26 121 133
South Wales 243 245 243
South Yorkshire 180 127 134
Staffordshire 50 49 58
Suffolk 68 72 76
Surrey 108 110 107
Sussex 164 163 163
Thames Valley 259 259 245
Warwickshire 103 103 93
West Mercia 292 115 117
West Midlands 384 405 393
West Yorkshire 320 314 317
Wiltshire 91 96 93
Total 6,902 6,706 7,104
(11) Staff with multiple responsibilities (or designations) are recorded under their primary role or function. The deployment of police officers is an operational matter for individual chief constables.
(12) This table contains full-time equivalent figures that have been rounded to the nearest whole number. Because of rounding, there may be an apparent discrepancy between the totals in this table and totals in similar published tables. Full-time equivalent includes those on career breaks or maternity/paternity leave.
(13) Data quality may be an issue with this force. Kent did not provide data for 2003–04.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
443 c789-91W;443 c789-91W; 51730
Session
2005-06
Subjects
Enforcement Parking Police Parking attendants Road traffic control
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk