There are 22 members of departmental staff working primarily on the exploration of road pricing, and, in particular, work needed to make a success of schemes being developed by local authorities (e.g. on the provisions contained in the draft Local Transport Bill published for consultation on 22 May). This work also draws on expertise in other areas of the Department from time to time, for example, on legal, economic and scientific issues as necessary.
A consultancy framework has recently been put in place to secure external expert input for road pricing and there are currently 24 individual consultants engaged full or part-time, this number varying dependent on the expertise required.