Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what guidance her Department has issued to police forces on roads policing provision between urban and rural communities.

The Government continues to support effective roads policing and road safety enforcement as part of wider efforts to reduce casualties and tackle criminality on the road network. The Department for Transport’s Road Safety Strategy, published in January 2026, sets out a comprehensive plan to reduce road deaths and serious injuries by 65% by 2035. Roads policing is recognised as a national policing capability and forces are expected to maintain appropriate capabilities to help prevent harm, save lives and support road safety.

In 2026-27, Dorset Police will receive up to £204.5 million in funding, an increase of up to £8.7 million compared with 2025-26. The deployment of police officers and allocation of roads policing resources, including on the A35 and other roads in West Dorset, are operational matters for the Chief Constable of Dorset Police, who is best placed to assess local threats, risks and demands. The Home Office does not assess roads policing coverage on specific roads or in individual localities and has made no specific assessment of the impact of roads policing levels on the number of people killed or seriously injured in road traffic collisions in West Dorset. It is the responsibility for Police and Crime Commissioners to set local policing priorities and to hold Chief Constables to account.