National Suicide Prevention Leadership Group minutes: February 2021

Attendees and apologies

• Ms Rose Fitzpatrick (Chair)
• Ms Rachel Cackett
• Dr Alastair Cook
• Ms Fiona Drouet
• Mr Toni Giugliano
• Dr David Hall
• Mr Nigel Henderson
• Chief Superintendent Linda Jones
• Ms Jane O’Donnell
• Ms Angela Scott
• Dr Michael Smith
• Ms Claire Sweeney
• Mr Alan Thornburrow
• Mr Billy Watson

In attendance

• Professor Rory O’Connor (Academic Advisory Group)
• Professor Steve Platt (Academic Advisory Group)
• Ms Haylis Smith (COSLA, NSPLG Actions 1 & 10 Delivery Lead)
• Ms Shirley Windsor (Public Health Scotland, NSPLG Action 3 Delivery Lead)
• Ms Fiona Myers (Public Health Scotland)
• Mr Andy Grierson (Programme Manager)
• Mr Niall Kearney (Scottish Government)
• Ms Amy Kirkpatrick (Scottish Government)
• Ms Lauren Paterson (Scottish Government)
• Ms Morag Williamson (Scottish Government)
• Mr Craig Wilson (Scottish Government)

Apologies

• Mr Warren Hawke
• Dr Amy Knighton
• Ms Lara McDonald

Items and actions

Welcome and introductions

The Chair welcomed Members to the twentieth meeting of the National Suicide Prevention Leadership Group (NSPLG) (“the Group”) noting that this meeting would be devoted to a workshop about the new suicide prevention strategy. The Chair welcomed new Members to the meeting: Ms Sweeney, Director of Place and Wellbeing, Public Health Scotland, and Chief Superintendent Jones, Head of Safer Communities Division, Police Scotland. The Chair also welcomed Ms Williamson who had recently taken up post as Head of Distress Interventions & Suicide Prevention in the Scottish Government.

The Chair noted that this would be the final meeting for Dr Smith and Mr Giugliano. She thanked them for their contributions in supporting the delivery of Scotland’s Suicide Prevention Action Plan over the last two and a half years and their personal commitment as founding members of the Group.

Apologies

Apologies were noted.

December 2020 minutes

The Chair noted that the minutes from the Group’s meeting in December had been circulated for comment and requested that any further comments be collated by the Secretariat and sent to her to sign off.

Update on development of new suicide prevention strategy

Ms Kirkpatrick and Ms Smith gave an update on the new suicide prevention strategy. It was highlighted that an NSPLG working group had been established to support the development of the new strategy by the Scottish Government in collaboration with COSLA. The aim of the workshop session was to gather Members’ views on developing the future strategy, building on the implementation and learning from Every Life Matters. This valuable input would help shape the options presented to Ministers and COSLA on developing the strategy.

Learning from Every Life Matters

Members took part in a breakout session, where they discussed learning from the current Suicide Prevention Action Plan Every Life Matters, including the findings of the recently published formal Review of the first two years of the Action Plan. In this session Members shared their views on the keypoints of learning and how these could be built upon as the new strategy was developed. This was followed by a group discussion.

Title, scope, vision, approach

Members took part in a breakout session where they considered the title, scope, vision, and strategic approach of the new suicide prevention strategy. In this session Members shared their views on the duration and content of the new strategy. This was followed by a group discussion.

Implementation planning for new strategy

Members took part in a breakout session where they considered the strengths and challenges with the current strategic and operational delivery model, and gave views on what arrangements would support the new strategy. This was followed by a group discussion.

Engagement and consultation for new strategy

There was a discussion around engagement and consultation for the new strategy. The Group considered what engagement and consultation principles should support the development of the new strategy. They also considered how to get the most out of the Member organisations’ representation and partnership reach, as well as what other sectors, partners and communities could be engaged to support the development of the strategy – which in itself could help widen visibility, understanding and engagement to support suicide prevention.

Wrap up and next steps

The Chair thanked everyone for their contributions and noted that there would be an update on the new suicide prevention strategy at the next NSPLG meeting on 31 March, which would be a standard business meeting.