“And I do want to emphasise as well Ruth, this money, I speak to organisations every single day and I’ve spent a lot of time in recent weeks as well pressing this in government and directly with the organisations – the domestic abuse commissioner, the victim commissioner and the frontline charities themselves.
“This is the resource they have asked for, we are getting the money to them, we’ve been working with them, the police are also part of this national effort as well,” she continued.
Patel added: “I speak to police every single day as part of our operational discussions because of covid, and it’s clear right now we are seeing a small uptick from a policing perspective.
“But because people are stuck at home – trapped at home – they [domestic abuse victims] are using other means of communication, such as the helpline, such as the online services to seek support.
