Hansard

Suicide affects far too many families and communities throughout the world. It is reported that an astonishing 1 million people commit suicide every year. That is one every 40 seconds—more than all the world’s murders and wars combined. There are, of course, many reasons why people decide to take their own life but, whatever they are, the fact that 1 million avoidable deaths take place through suicide every year is a truly shocking statistic.

I echo the sentiments of the minister and the Scottish Government that much work needs to be done. Therefore, I welcome the new suicide prevention strategy that the Government is introducing. I hope that it will build on the good work already being carried out by the likes of the choose life programme and various other programmes in which local authorities, health boards, communities and many other agencies are involved.

Prevention is the key to all activity and informs the new national strategy. However, in forming any prevention strategy, we must be fully aware of the facts and figures so that we can target resources effectively. For example, we need to know why men are nearly three times more likely than women to take their own life. We need to understand that the most vulnerable group is men between the ages of 35 and 44. However, men aged 25 to 34 and 45 to 54 also appear to be highly vulnerable.

I find the socioeconomics of the matter stark. There is a very strong correlation between suicide rates and levels of social and economic deprivation. Between 2008 and 2012, the age-standardised rate was more than four times higher in the most deprived 10th of the population than in the least deprived 10th.

I have to say that, with income levels falling, welfare changes and the general thrust of austerity, desperation can and does creep into people’s lives when they are on the breadline. The Samaritans report “Men and Suicide: Why it’s a social issue” points to an increased risk as income goes down, as well as to an increased risk in groups with poor education and among unskilled manual workers and social housing tenants.

I will make one other point on statistics. I note that the figures in the motion and the Government’s new strategy state that there has been an 18 per cent reduction in the suicide rate in the past 10 years. However, I looked at local authority figures prior to the debate and it appears that there is a difference between the headline figure in the strategy and the local authority figures. Perhaps, in his closing speech or after the debate, the minister could clarify the difference between what is in the strategy and the figures that local authorities produced. I make that not as a political point but as a point of clarification.

Beyond the statistics, we need to focus and refocus on prevention and on targeting people and groups in the communities where they live. As members would expect, there are many sources of information and analysis on the subject. The report to which I referred—“Men and Suicide: Why it’s a social issue”—highlights a number of points, but the socioeconomic dimension jumps out. We need to address the fact that suicide figures are significantly higher in the communities that I mentioned.

As a general rule, the poorer someone is, the more likely they are to self-harm. At a basic level, if someone lives in poor housing, has a very low income, is under financial pressure and does not have support systems around them, and if their life seems devoid of hope, it is unsurprising but nevertheless upsetting that they might take the appalling option of suicide.

For other people, major events or changes in their life are the trigger. That could be job loss, relationship breakdown, the death of a friend or loved one or a change in physical health or mental wellbeing. The Samaritans report points to a number of factors that contribute to the high figures. The main ones are whether they are male, their background, personality traits and emotional literacy and mid-life challenges. Those are issues that any strategy must recognise and address.

Of course, we must draw people out to enable them to share their feelings and concerns. I am sure that we would all recognise that we Scots are not the best at talking about our personal difficulties. We may be free with our moans about the weather, the national football team, physical ailments or the after-effects of a good night out, but we are much more reticent when it comes to our inner feelings, emotions and what is going on inside our heads. We do not tend to share those feelings. Often, the last people we are willing to share our troubles with are the very people who can help us most: the people we live and work with and the people we love and care most about. There are many attractive things about our national character but that is a part of it that we have to change quickly because, for far too many of our fellow Scots, those troubled feelings, which are often caused by major events or experiences in their lives, cause them to self-harm or suicide. Of course, we need to develop platforms to help people to open up, and I hope that the Government's strategy helps to ensure that that will happen.

I want to finish by giving voice to someone who has been affected by suicide and who is a relative of one of the 3,904 suicides in Scotland over the past five years. This person, who is a friend of mine, told me this week about his family’s experience, and I said that I would relay what he said to the Parliament.

He said that the issue of mental health problems needs to be publicised more on television and online and in newspapers, magazines and the general media. He said that such awareness raising is important but that brief, infrequent adverts are never going to be enough. The first port of call must be to ensure that ordinary people—family and friends—can spot the signs that there are problems and know what they are. More awareness raising through the media would help, and I am grateful that the strategy points to greater use of social media.

He also said that the health service must get away from attempting a quick fix by prescribing pills for mental health conditions such as depression rather than taking a longer-term approach, and that mental health services have to be more effective and accessible. That is still not happening. It takes months for a client to see someone and, when they manage to do so, the number of sessions that they are allowed is restricted.

He also said that his family had great support from the charity Touched by Suicide Scotland, which runs eight self-help groups and works in five different council areas. It has expressed frustration at the different ways in which it is treated by local authorities. Some are very supportive but others appear to completely fail to recognise the support needed by individuals who are bereaved by suicide.

On awareness training, the charity urges us to go much further and make the focus of training much wider than previously, when it has been mainly on health service staff. Of course, GPs, nurses, health visitors and so on need training, but we also need to train housing officers, benefits staff, advice workers, shop stewards, bar staff and people who work in bookmakers, bingo halls and the like, because they will come into contact with people who may be at risk of self-harm. I hope that, under commitment 2 of the strategy, training will be considered for those groups of workers.

Touched by Suicide also expresses concern about support for children and young people who are at risk of suicide and says that not enough is being done in schools and colleges. It says that, if a child is at risk of suicide and is classed as priority, the quickest timescale for them to be seen by someone is within five days, which can often be too long. It raises concern about funding being a big problem for small organisations that support people who have been bereaved by suicide. If they support people in different areas, they often have to submit multiple applications for funding in each of the geographical areas that they work in.

Five years ago, when I was a councillor, six constituents in my ward took their own lives in an 18-month to two-year period. Six lives wasted, six families shattered and communities devastated. I hope that the strategy has the impact that it is designed to have. I speak regularly to the friends and family of those six people. They never forget, and they never stop saying one word: “Why?”