Question

To ask the Senior Deputy Speaker, further to his Written Answer on 19 December 2023 (HL926), what is the annual cost to Parliament of a traffic marshal on the Westminster estate.

It remains the case that Strategic Estates contracts for a service rather than paying individual marshals directly. Because working patterns and shifts are variable, it is not possible to identify accurately the annual cost of individual marshals on the Parliamentary estate. For financial year 24/25 the estimated total cost of traffic marshals to Parliament, excluding those marshalling the underground car park, is £606K excluding VAT. Illustratively, the cost of the provision of a marshal service at one marshal point for 12 hours a day, 5 days a week, 50 weeks a year would be approximately £63K excluding VAT. However, actual marshalling hours vary according to operational need, and this sum is not what an individual traffic marshal would receive in pay. In common with all of our contractors and sub-contractors working in London, we require that our traffic marshals are paid at least the London Living Wage.