National Suicide Prevention Advisory Group Annual Report 2023/2024

1. Scotland’s National Suicide Prevention Advisory Group

Who We Are and What Our Work Involves

The NSPAG was established in June 2023 by the Scottish Government and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) to champion and drive suicide prevention in Scotland, following the launch of their joint Suicide Prevention Strategy 2022-2032: Creating Hope Together.

The purpose of the National Suicide Prevention Advisory Group is to champion and drive suicide prevention in Scotland by:

• advising the Scottish Government and COSLA on the progress, direction and priorities of Creating Hope Together, Scotland’s Suicide Prevention Strategy 2022-2032)
• advising Scotland’s Suicide Prevention National Delivery Lead and Delivery Collective on strategic issues affecting delivery
• advising, including at their request, Scottish Government and COSLA on any broader issues connected with suicide prevention.

The suicide prevention strategy sets out a vision for ‘reducing the number of suicide deaths in Scotland, whilst tackling the inequalities which contribute to suicide’. With this in mind, the membership of the NSPAG reflects our purpose of providing strategic advice to the Scottish Government, COSLA and all those delivering the strategy, by sharing our insights and strategic perspectives on the context, complexities, intersectionality and inequalities which so often lead to increased risk of suicide.

Members of the NSPAG bring professional leadership experience of, and connections into, a range of policy areas including equalities and human rights, care experience, education, poverty, criminal justice, business leadership, community development, mental health, primary care and health inclusion. We each also bring our own lived and living experience of suicide and its impacts. We expect our membership to flex as appropriate to reflect emerging issues, priorities and opportunities.

National Suicide Prevention Advisory Group Members 2023/24

• Rose Fitzpatrick CBE QPM - Chair
• Cath Denholm – Interim Chair, Equalities and Human Rights Commission
• Dr Linda Findlay – Psychiatrist and former National Clinical Lead for Distress Brief Interventions
• Louise Hunter – Chief Executive, Who Cares? Scotland
• Dr Douglas Hutchison – President, Association of Directors of Education Scotland
• Peter Kelly – Chief Executive, The Poverty Alliance
• Sheriff David Mackie – Board Member, SACRO
• Catherine McWilliam – Director of Nations - Scotland, Institute of Directors
• Brendan Rooney – Executive Director, Healthy n Happy Community Development Trust
• Prof Andrea Williamson – GP and Professor of General Practice and Inclusion Health, University of Glasgow

Alongside our advisory roles, each NSPAG member has committed personally to taking action by contributing to collective leadership on suicide prevention in Scotland. This includes individual members raising awareness, sharing insights, promoting effective practice and encouraging leadership action, within our own areas of influence and across our networks.

Our work involves providing independent impartial advice, including any necessary constructive challenge, to the Scottish Government and COSLA on policy, practice and the delivery of the suicide prevention strategy. This may include identifying any new and emerging priorities. We also provide such advice to the National Delivery Lead for Suicide Prevention and to Suicide Prevention Scotland, which is the collective of people and organisations who have come together to deliver the vision and plans set out in Creating Hope Together.

We provide advice in a number of ways. We have a responsibility, as set out in our terms of reference, “to provide an independent and impartial written annual report to the Scottish Government and COSLA on progress of the delivery of Creating Hope Together, Scotland’s Suicide Prevention Strategy 2022-2032”. This is our first such report.

In addition to formal reporting, we as a Group and individually give ongoing advice to the Scottish Government, COSLA, the National Delivery Lead and Suicide Prevention Scotland. We do our best to ensure our advice arises out of our direct engagement with their work and reports and is informed by those who have lived and living experience of suicide, by suicide practitioners and academic advice.

This our first annual report reflects our first year working together since the NSPAG was established. It covers the year 2023/24, is formally submitted to the Scottish Government and COSLA and will be published by them. We hope our observations and constructive advice on the Scottish Government and COSLA’s suicide prevention strategy, its priorities and progress in delivering on its plans over the last year will contribute to saving lives from suicide and the tragedy it brings.