LAST week as Secretary of State for Work and Pensions I launched an extension of "Ask for ANI" – a scheme that provides a safe space and support for victims of domestic abuse.

Already operational at 5,000 pharmacies, I launched 18 new pilot schemes at job centres on February 20 and hope to eventually roll the scheme out to every job centre in the country. The scheme is delivered in partnership with Hestia’s Safe Spaces.

ANI stands for "Action Needed Immediately" and anyone who is suffering from, or fearful of, domestic abuse can ask for ANI, and they will be guided to a safe and private space and offered support to call the police or specialist domestic abuse services.

Since 2017, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) have delivered mandatory training to staff on how to identify domestic abuse, offer support to those experiencing abuse and check that the abuse has been reported to the courts, police or social services. Extending this training to include ask for ANI is a natural step.

The government is also seeking to change the law so that the most dangerous domestic abusers will be watched more closely.

For the first time, controlling or coercive behaviour will be put on a par with physical violence.

This means offenders who are sentenced to a year or more imprisonment or a suspended sentence will be managed by the police, prison and probation services under multi-agency public protection arrangements.

As part of trials in three parts of the UK, abusers could be fitted with a tag and prevented from going within a certain distance of a victim’s home.

In addition, the government is strengthening Clare’s Law, which gives people the right to know if their current or ex-partner has any previous history of violence or abuse.

From March 2023, the police will need to disclose information about an individual’s violent or abusive behaviour more quickly.

These measures sit alongside wider work the government is doing to tackle domestic abuse, such as:

• Quadrupling funding for victim and witness support services by 2024/25.

• Introducing new measures in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act to give victims of domestic abuse longer to report offences to the police.

• Strengthening the law around the sending, sharing and threatening to share intimate images without consent and creating a new offences of non-fatal strangulation.

• Committing over £79 million since 2020 for domestic abuse perpetrator interventions.

• Doubling funding for the National Domestic Abuse Helpline, which sees on average 15,000 users every three months.

• Launching a new communications campaign, "Enough" to change societal attitudes towards domestic abuse and violence against women and girls.

Domestic abuse is an abhorrent crime, in most cases committed by men against women, and I hope that the action the government is taking, across multiple departments, will better protect women and girls and ensure they get the support they need when they need it.

More from Mel at: www.melstridemp.com . More on Ask for ANI at: www.gov.uk/ask-for-ani .