Meeting of the Parliament 12 September 2018
I welcome Clare Haughey to her new role as minister. I look forward to working with her during the coming months and years on a very important topic.
We owe it to those who have lost their lives in this tragic way to be united in the chamber and to make sure that Scotland’s suicide prevention plan is the best that it can be. There are serious issues within Scotland’s mental health services, particularly when it comes to waiting times, and that undoubtedly affects those who are unable to receive support at a critical time. That is not to take away from my support for the suicide prevention plan, which, despite serious concerns that were expressed when it was published in draft, has now been welcomed by third sector organisations.
As my amendment shows, I want to focus on the need for clarity when it comes to the finer details. Scotland has been without a suicide prevention strategy for a long time—more than a year and a half—so I want to ensure that the new plan truly delivers the radical change that the minister is talking about.
In 2016, when it was revealed that the suicide rate in Scotland had risen by 8 per cent in just one year, we were united in voicing our concern. Although suicide is a complex issue that can be difficult to understand fully, the deaths of 728 people in just one year is heartbreaking.
Fortunately, we saw a reduction in the number of suicides in Scotland last year, but it is worrying that Scotland still has the highest suicide rate in Britain and that the male rate of suicide continues to rise. As has been said in the chamber previously, one death by suicide will always be one too many.
I welcome whole-heartedly the Scottish Government’s target to reduce the rate of suicide by 20 per cent by 2022. However, success will depend on how effectively the plan is implemented. My concerns are not about the measures that are set out in the plan. In fact, prior to the strategy’s publication, the Scottish Conservatives backed calls for increased support for families, more training for key staff and the creation of a new national suicide prevention body.
My concern lies in the plan’s delivery. Upon seeing the new strategy, I submitted many written parliamentary questions to try to obtain more detail. The majority of the actions in the strategy are to be delivered by the new national suicide prevention leadership group. When I asked the Scottish Government whether the £1 million annual investment in suicide prevention would be used to fund existing suicide programmes, I was told that the leadership group would make recommendations on the appropriate use of the investment. When I asked the Scottish Government to provide more information on which NHS staff will be given suicide prevention training and what date they would receive that by, I was told that details would be considered by the leadership group. When I asked the Scottish Government to what extent the leadership group will direct the Government’s spending of the £1 million investment, I was again told that the leadership group would make recommendations to ministers on the most appropriate use of the investment.
What I took from the ambiguity of the answers is that there is still much detail to be decided. The existence of the group is a very positive step, but there are still questions to be asked. How empowered will the group be to make decisions independently? Who will be held ultimately accountable as progress is measured? How quickly can we expect the group to report? I welcome the minister’s comment that the group will be set up in December this year, but we need to know when it will report to Parliament.