Creating Hope Together: Scotland's Suicide Prevention Action Plan 2026-2029

Acknowledgements

While this action plan is jointly owned by the Scottish Government and COSLA, many people and organisations have been involved in its development. We would like to acknowledge all of their contributions as the basis for this plan and for the work that lies ahead to deliver.

We would first and foremost like to thank the members of Suicide Prevention Scotland and all the stakeholders, partners and panels who support their work – the National Suicide Prevention Advisory Group (NSPAG), the Academic Advisory Group (AAG), the Lived and Living Experience Panel (LLEP) and the Youth Advisory Group (YAG).

We would also like to thank those working locally, including NHS Boards and Local Authorities, as well as local Suicide Prevention Implementation Leads, for their continued engagement and sharing of invaluable insights, recognising the key role of local delivery in preventing and responding to those affected by suicide.

These collective efforts have significantly strengthened our response to suicide prevention and our work has already made a real difference in communities, providing firm foundations for our long-term strategy and first action plan, and for this new action plan to build on.

We are also grateful to the Scottish Parliament’s Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee who ran a short inquiry in 2024 into the Scottish Government and COSLA’s Suicide Prevention Strategy 2022-2032. Their report brought welcome insights into several key areas including: funding and resources; inequalities in suicide rates; lived and living experience and engagement; strategic delivery and accountability; and cross-government collaboration. All of these have been considered as part of this new action plan.