Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government welcomes The UK Commission on Bereavement’s report and the focus it brings to improving the experience of people affected by grief. Bereavement affects many aspects of our lives and we recognise that getting the right care and support following a bereavement is crucial for our health and wellbeing.

As set out in the answers to questions S6W-15835 and S6W-15839 on 21 March 2023, we are already taking forward a broad programme of work to improve the practical support, care and advice that is available for people who have been bereaved. We are also taking forward specific work which implements a number of UK Commission’s recommendations. This includes: improving access to advice and information for people affected by bereavement; ensuring people are sensitively supported during a bereavement; and, adopting public health approaches to create more open-ness in our communities to talking about dying and death. We have also introduced practical changes to ensure processes for registering a death are as straightforward as possible.

We are also exploring ways to further improve bereavement support through our new Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy, the new Palliative and End of Life Strategy, and through the creation of the National Care Service. This includes focussing on the needs of minority groups.

Finally, we will continue our engagement with the bereavement sector as we take forward our work to improve support for people affected by bereavement, drawing on the UK Commission’s findings.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers