§ Mr. NormanTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many traffic wardens were employed in each year since 1997. [102254]
§ Mr. Bob AinsworthThe total number of traffic wardens employed by police authorities in England and Wales for the last three years are given in the following table:
Traffic warden strength 1999–2000 2,801 2000–01 2,538 2001–02 2,280 Figures for the years prior to 1999–2000 are not recorded centrally.
967WThe number of traffic wardens has been falling over recent years because increasingly the offences with which they formerly dealt have been decriminalised and dealt with by local authority employees.