Hansard

I am pleased to close today’s debate and also, as many members have done, to welcome the Scottish Government’s suicide prevention strategy. I agree with Anas Sarwar that this has been one of the most useful and interesting debates that we have had, and certainly that I have been involved in since being elected to Parliament.

I start by welcoming the new minister to her place. I enjoyed the time that I spent working with her on the Health and Sport Committee. I know her passion and real determination in this area and hope that she will bring those to her new role. I am not sure whether she will be able to keep up her training now that she has that position, but I hope that she will do so in some way.

I also take this opportunity to thank organisations such as Samaritans, SAMH and Stonewall Scotland that have provided useful briefings for today.

Annie Wells set out the Scottish Conservatives’ position effectively in her opening speech. We recognise that the final plan is a significant improvement on the draft plan, and we welcome that. However, the challenge now for ministers will be to implement the strategy and urgently implement the recommendations that will be made by the national suicide prevention leadership group to deliver the 20 per cent reduction by 2020.

As Annie Wells suggested, we need much more clarity from the Scottish Government about the resources that will be available to deliver all aspects of the plan, and that is what our amendment seeks. Delivering on the plan and ensuring that it produces results is vital, as we have already heard. Scotland’s suicide rate remains stubbornly higher than that south of the border. As members from across the chamber have stated, we have particular challenges in tackling and preventing male suicides—especially in the 45 to 54 age group, which has seen an increase in the suicide rate for the second consecutive year. It remains a very stark reality that suicide is still the single biggest killer of men under 50 in the UK, as well as of younger people aged 25 to 34.

As Alex Cole-Hamilton and Clare Adamson mentioned, we need to find new ways of communicating with men and younger people who feel suicidal, and to ensure that they know that there is support out there for them and that they can ask for that help. I am very pleased that the recent campaign with the hashtag #itsoktotalk and other campaigns have been shared widely on social media and endorsed by many leading sports people, and I encourage everyone to promote such initiatives.

We also all know that there is a lot of work to be done in preventing suicide in our economically disadvantaged communities, as the suicide rate is more than two and a half times higher among the most deprived tenth of the population compared with that among the least deprived. Bob Doris highlighted Samaritans’ work on that and the fact that it has continuously emphasised the need for suicide prevention plans to be locally focused and tailored to the specific needs of diverse communities. I very much support and endorse that, and hope that the new leadership group will give local programmes a strong focus and backing.

Public awareness of suicide is especially important, and the fact that local services are available to help those at risk has been raised a number of times during the debate. It is of real concern that polling by the Samaritans earlier this year indicated that four in 10 people in Scotland said that they would not know who to turn to if they were at the point of crisis or supporting someone in crisis. I look forward to seeing innovative approaches that build on the work that has been done to date on awareness campaigns.

A number of members talked openly about the importance of early intervention. I concur, and agree with Alison Johnstone’s important points about self-harm.

Ensuring that we have effective, accessible mental health services that are available when people need them can help to make a real difference. I hope that Emma Harper’s important point about rural-proofing suicide policy will be taken forward.

Mental health and suicide prevention training has been raised by a number of members this afternoon. It is, rightly, a key part of the every life matters plan. SAMH’s briefing makes the important point that the refresh of suicide awareness training should retain the key practices already in place, such as the applied suicide intervention skills training for key groups such as GPs. I endorse Anas Sarwar’s points about trauma training for public services. That could make a huge difference if we were to roll it out.

I take this opportunity to thank all those in my region, and Dave Stewart MSP, for their voluntary work with the Samaritans and, indeed, for the work of volunteers with other mental health charities. They make a huge contribution each and every day and genuinely help to save lives. We should all recognise and welcome that and thank them for the difference that they make.

I know that he probably will not welcome being praised by a Tory MSP, but I pay tribute to James Dornan’s considered contribution, which was important to today’s debate.

I want to mention an incident that we were probably all aware of over the summer: the tragic death in May of Frightened Rabbit singer Scott Hutchison. Scott’s tragic death from suicide attracted significant and high-profile attention to the issue, and I note the points that have been made in that regard. I think that there was a genuine national outpouring of not only sympathy for his family and friends, but understanding that we need to address the issue of men in Scotland taking their own lives.

I pay tribute to Scott Hutchison’s family and friends who, in recent weeks, have spoken about his battle with depression. Scott talked openly about his mental health problems. His family have spoken about what a wonderful person he was. In their statement, they also said that

“Depression is a horrendous illness that does not give you any alert or indication as to when it will take hold”,

which I found compelling.

That is an important point to consider in this debate; it is also important for the new strategy to ensure that emergency support and access is put at its heart.

All of us in the chamber will agree that every single suicide is a tragedy for the individual involved, their families and friends and society more widely. If we get right the delivery of the plan, we can make progress in the years ahead and reduce suicide rates. The Scottish Conservatives will continue to work constructively with ministers and stakeholders to help achieve that, because every life really does matter.