To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many (a) staff and (b) inspection staff were employed by the Highways Agency in each year since 1997. [99760]

The numbers of civil servants employed by the Highways Agency on the 1 January 2003 for the past seven years are set out in the following table:

Year	Number of civil servants
1997	1,628
1998	1,597
1999	1,591
2000	1,634
2001	1,647
2002	1,668
2003	1,720

The Highways Agency has not employed any inspection staff during this period. These duties are carried out on behalf of the Agency by their managing agent contractors.