Meeting of the Parliament 21 November 2017
Suicide prevention is a critically important issue, and Scottish Labour welcomes the opportunity to contribute to the debate. The motion before us is absolutely right to state that
“every suicide is a tragedy”.
On behalf of my colleagues, I extend our sympathy to everyone who has been bereaved as a result of suicide.
Uncomfortable though it is, this serious issue deserves debate and discussion so that we can continue to reduce the number of people who die by suicide. The motion notes that the suicide rate has gone down by 17 per cent over the past decade, which is welcome. However, the number of people who died by suicide last year was 728, which is an 8 per cent rise on the year before and the first such rise in six years.
It is true that the figures fluctuate from year to year, but when we are talking about people’s lives, we cannot be complacent. Each death by suicide is an utter tragedy, and the impact of each one of those 728 deaths by suicide last year will have devastating ramifications for many people for many years to come.
One death by suicide is one too many, so it is crucial that the Scottish Government brings forward another suicide prevention action plan in the coming months, although I share the concerns that have been raised about the fact that the Government allowed the strategy for 2013 to 2016 to expire without putting in place an updated plan. We in Scottish Labour will therefore be supporting the Scottish Government’s motion and the amendment in the name of Annie Wells, which recognises the concern that the previous strategy was allowed to expire.
I welcome the motion’s acknowledgement of the importance of collaborative working. We know that suicide prevention work can be successful only when agencies work together, and the forthcoming action plan must make that happen more effectively. As the minister mentioned, the Scottish health awards recently took place, and I had the pleasure of attending, alongside other colleagues in the chamber, to celebrate the amazing heroes who help to deliver our health service day in and day out.
Fortuitously, the minister and I were sat together at the event, and we both had the honour of watching the choose life north-east Scotland initiative win a well-deserved innovation award. I can think of no better example of the importance of collaborative working than the success of that project, in which collaboration between local authorities, the health board, Police Scotland, Cruse Bereavement Care and Samaritans in Scotland resulted in a 29 per cent reduction in suicides in a single year, and another 40 per cent reduction in the first three months of this year.
The spirit and success of that project must be captured in the new action plan so that that example of best practice can be rolled out across the country. Unfortunately, as we know only too well, there is still great variation in the success and availability of suicide prevention services across Scotland. Earlier this year, released a report entitled “Dying from Inequality”. It revealed the headline figures that I highlight in my proposed amendment to the motion, including the fact that those in deprived communities are three times more likely to die by suicide.
The report found that those who are experiencing socioeconomic disadvantage are more likely to experience negative life events and less likely to seek help. That partly explains why the suicide rate is much higher in deprived communities than it is in the least deprived communities. An understanding that low wages, insecure work and other factors such as unemployment are key contributors to the complex issue of suicide must therefore be central to the new action plan. Reducing the rate of suicide in Scotland cannot be achieved by investment in NHS services alone; it must be underpinned by a commitment to tackle poverty and inequality at all levels of our society.