The director of public prosecutions, Keir Starmer, has announced that domestic violence conviction rates are at an all-time high after a four-year campaign by prosecutors to tackle violence against women and girls. This follows a further momentous move by the Home Office which, only last week, launched a pilot disclosure scheme permitting police in northern England to "proactively release information to protect a person from domestic violence where it is lawful, necessary and proportionate to do so". In other words, anyone worried about the potentially abusive nature of their partner has the right to call on the police to either substantiate or dismiss their fears through hard records, and act accordingly. I wish this scheme every possible success ? and hope it will be rolled out across the entire country.

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