§ Mr. SteenTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many uniformed patrols will be set up by the Highways Agency under the Traffic Management Bill; what their annual cost will be; and how many new posts will be created. [145825]
§ Mr. Jamieson[holding answer 7 January 2004]The number of uniformed patrols (a liveried vehicle and uniformed Traffic Officers) will depend on day-to-day operational requirements and is currently envisaged to be about 100 when fully phased in on motorways. The annual cost is about £40 million. It is currently envisaged that the number of new posts created will be about 1,200 Traffic Officers.
The Highways Agency and Association of Chief Police Officers "Roles and Responsibilities Report" identified plans that could free up the equivalent of about 540 full-time equivalent police officers. Based on figures from Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary of 6,540 designated roads police in 2001–02, the report estimated that a transfer of non-core police activities to the Highways Agency enabled approximately 8½ per cent. of police time to work on other key tasks. Resources will be freed up over a period of about three years as Highways Agency Traffic Officers are phased in across all motorways and some key trunk roads.