Question reference: S5W-36125
- Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
- Date lodged: 11 March 2021
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Current status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 24 March 2021
Question
To ask the Scottish Government on what date will reliable real-time data to inform local and national suicide prevention be available, following reports on 3 October 2021 that the National Suicide Prevention Leadership Group and Public Health Scotland are investigating ways to extract such data.
Answer
Public Health Scotland and Police Scotland have been exploring the sharing of more timely data recorded by Police Officers where they attend a possible death by suicide. The purpose of this work is to determine whether Police Scotland data on possible completed suicides can provide more timely and a valid proxy for confirmed deaths by suicide. It is now anticipated that this exploratory analysis will be completed by Summer 2021.
Police Scotland data on possible deaths by suicide may not include all deaths by suicide, as it might not always be obvious that the death is a result of completed suicide, or there might be a need to wait for toxicology reports. As such, it is unlikely to be appropriate for formal publication but rather to inform local and national approaches.
As part of the exploratory phase, the viability and timing of the implementation of this work will be confirmed.