National Suicide Prevention Advisory Group: annual report 2024-2025

Foreword

Welcome to our second National Suicide Prevention Advisory Group (NSPAG) report and my first as Chair. It’s been eye opening to spend this year learning more about suicide and its’ social determinants and a very steep learning curve for all of us on the group, many of whom are new members. We hope that collectively we’ve been a constructive friend to Scotland’s Suicide Prevention Strategy and those responsible for delivering it and have suggested actions not only for Suicide Prevention Scotland but for Scottish Government and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) more generally.

We commend all the work that has taken place till now and the relentless work of Suicide Prevention Scotland, headed by the National Delivery Lead Haylis Smith. Their work over the past year is comprehensively set out in their annual report. Their commitment to this complex work is truly inspiring and we are proud to live in a country that has put in place a very comprehensive suicide prevention strategy and action plan to prevent and reduce suicides and support people who are in crisis.

Our report has quite a number of actions, some of which are specific. However, we feel that is needed to bring into sharp focus some of the areas we believe require the most attention - because we are acutely aware that far too many people are still dying as a result of suicide and many others are attempting or contemplating suicide. We hope this will inform the next three-year Suicide Prevention Action Plan which will run from 2026-29. Our main focus, like that of Suicide Prevention Scotland, has been on inequalities generally, recognising that intersectionality is linked with this at every level and we believe that tackling those issues will support a reduction in suicide.

I’d like to personally thank the outgoing Chair Rose Fitzpatrick for all the work she did to get us to this point through the National Suicide Prevention Leadership Group (NSPLG) and latterly as chair of NSPAG. Rose has been an inspiration to all of us, and I am aware what big shoes I must fill. I’d also like to thank our outgoing members for their commitment insight and dedication and our current members for all their continued support. This report is the work of all of us and reflects our own different and unique perspectives on suicide and suicide prevention.