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A government minister has revealed she covertly tested the Ask for Angela safety scheme at venues across the UK until she became too well-known to continue the undercover checks.
The scheme, launched in 2016 and named after Angela Crompton who was killed by her husband, allows people to discreetly signal they need help by using a code word at participating venues.
Jess Phillips, minister for safeguarding and violence against women and girls, disclosed her secret visits after a BBC investigation found more than half of participating venues failed to implement the scheme properly.
Ms Phillips says she found the response in the pubs and bars she checked herself wholly unsatisfactory.
She “likes to test” safety systems like Ask for Angela, but has become too well known now to continue.
Her comments came after BBC undercover researchers posed as a couple on a date, with a female researcher approaching bar staff appearing distressed and asking for Angela.
The investigation found widespread confusion among staff, with many completely unaware of what the codeword meant despite their venues displaying Ask for Angela posters.
At more than half of the 25 London venues tested, staff were completely unaware of what the emergency codeword meant despite their venues displaying Ask for Angela posters.
Ms Phillips praised the BBC’s investigation, saying she felt “really grateful to the good work done by BBC London in highlighting that”.
The minister, who previously worked developing services for victims of domestic abuse at Women’s Aid in the West Midlands, emphasised that safety schemes were “meaningless if you don’t implement things properly on the ground”.
Following the BBC investigation, Cambridgeshire, West Midlands and Hertfordshire police forces announced they had conducted spot checks. The BBC findings mirror similar failures in the scheme’s implementation reported by women’s safety groups across other parts of the UK.
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