Since I was elected as Suffolk's Police and Crime Commissioner in 2012, my office has allocated over £1.8m of public money to deal with domestic abuse in the county.

The Waveney Domestic Violence Forum is one of nearly 50 organisations that has secured funding from the PCC's fund and I was pleased to attend the opening of their new facilities in Lowestoft back in April.

For me, there are few things in life that matter more than having a safe and secure home – it should be a welcome haven from all the hustle and bustle of work and life in general. So it's dreadfully sad that anyone should live in fear and trepidation within their own home. Sadly, where domestic abuse is concerned, much more still needs to be done to rid society of this behaviour. Life really needn't be like this.

Ultimately change will only be delivered by us all working together and whilst I don't have a magic wand, I can pledge to do everything possible to support and encourage this work. Tackling domestic abuse remains a major priority in my Suffolk Police and Crime Plan.

So often children are inadvertently involved in domestic abuse cases through no fault of their own and so the provision of support for them is also crucial. I welcome Government proposals to have a national Independent Domestic Violence Commissioner as this should help deliver a multi-agency approach. These proposals need to be based on evidence and not duplicate existing work.

Last year I allocated funding of over £60,000 for the vast majority of front line police officers to receive dedicated domestic abuse training from Safe Lives, helping the victims and bringing the perpetrators to justice. I realise there is still a great deal more to do but as far as Suffolk is concerned I believe a very good start has been made and we must all renew our efforts and carry on.

If you would like to know more about grants and victims services details are on the PCC website www.suffolk-pcc.gov.uk