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This data is not held centrally by The Scottish Government, National Records of Scotland or Public Health Scotland. 

In September 2022 the Scottish Government and COSLA published Scotland’s 10 year suicide prevention strategy and action plan, ‘Creating Hope Together’. This sets out a comprehensive plan to reduce suicide deaths in Scotland.

The initial 3 year action plan will support continuous improvement in the quality of clinical care and support provided by mental health services for people who are suicidal. This includes embedding the National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Safety in Mental Health (NCISH) guidelines into operating practices. NCISH is the UK’s leading research programme into suicide prevention in clinical services, and is supported by the Scottish Government. Data tables from their 2022 Annual Report are available to view here which provides information on location of suicides, but is not broken down specifically to mental health settings.

The new strategy includes a continued focus on rolling out multi-agency suicide reviews across Scotland, which will provide valuable learning about where service opportunities have been missed in preventing a suicide. The suicide reviews will include information on whether the person who died was a mental health services inpatient. It is expected the system will identify the location of death, including whether the person was an inpatient at the time of death. Along with other types of data and insight, the learning from suicide reviews will produce valuable intelligence to inform ongoing service improvements.

Data specific to Years of Working Life Lost (YWLL) for liver disease is not routinely published. Scottish Burden of Disease data published in Sept 2021 showed that for liver disease (cirrhosis and other chronic liver disease) the number of years of life lost (YLL) have fallen from 37,467 in 2016 to 32,279 in 2019. This is around 2.9% of all YLL reported in the 2019 study (1,100,944).

We know that 60 per cent of liver disease is caused by alcohol misuse and we are working on initiatives that will support communities across Scotland to reduce alcohol consumption.

Provisions within Part 1 of the Cost of Living (Tenant Protection) (Scotland) Act 2022, introduce a temporary cap on in-tenancy rent increases, which is set at 0% until at least 31 March 2023.

The following tenancies are not covered by the rent cap:

• some assured tenancies where rent increases are controlled by the contract - if a tenant has an assured tenancy where the way their rent will increase is set out in their contract - and the emergency legislation is still legally in force - then rent will be able to increase in the way agreed in the contract;
• regulated tenancies under the Rent (Scotland) Act 1984 - these tenancies already have strong protections in place, and rents for these tenancies can only increase once every three years;
• common law tenancies - this includes arrangements like agricultural tenancies and lodger agreements (where a tenant lives with a landlord in their home), with the exception of student tenancy agreements; and new tenancies.

The Scottish Government is always happy to work with stakeholders and fully intends to continue to engage with environmental stakeholder groups going forward. Officials have met with the Environmental Rights Centre for Scotland a number of times, most recently on 12 October, and will continue to engage with them and other stakeholders as we look to strengthen our compliance with the requirements of the Aarhus Convention.

The Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee has previously welcomed significant progress made by Scotland in strengthening compliance with the requirements of the Aarhus Convention. Work is in progress or planned in relation to the areas of concern which were raised in decision VII/8s. The Scottish Civil Justice Council has been asked to undertake a review of court rules relating to Protective Expenses Orders, and this is currently underway. Following a public consultation which closed in March this year the Scottish Government has introduced an exemption for court fees for Aarhus Convention cases in the Court of Session. This exemption is now in force. Work is underway on planning for a new Human Rights Bill for Scotland, which will include a commitment to a right to a healthy environment. The Scottish Government is committed to introducing legislation to reform legal aid in the course of the current Parliament, informed by ongoing engagement with stakeholders. The Scottish Government is committed to strengthening compliance with the requirements of the Aarhus Convention.

Improvements to the A75 were proposed as part of the UK Government’s Union Connectivity Review (UCR) and an offer of potential funding has been made from its Union Connectivity Development Fund.

To date, the UK Government has not committed any funding for design or development work on the A75, as, along with all other transport recommendations identified by STPR2, it remains a devolved matter.

The implications of the recommendations of decision VII/8s are being considered and work is ongoing to strengthen compliance with the requirements of the Aarhus Convention. A number of strands of work are being undertaken in relation to a review of the court rules governing Protective Expenses Orders, a new Human Rights Bill for Scotland which will include a commitment to a right to a healthy environment, and consideration of Legal Aid Reform in the course of this Parliament. The Scottish Government has already introduced an exemption from court fees for environmental 'Aarhus' cases brought in the Court of Session. In terms of the recommendations that relate directly to unauthorised development within the UK, we are working with the other UK administrations to assess the options and identify appropriate actions.

The A75 and A77 routes were considered as part of the UK Government’s Union Connectivity Review (UCR), with potential funding following on from the recommendations.

In March 2022, Transport Scotland (TS) officials had an initial discussions with their UK counterparts in from the Department for Transport (DfT). The subject of possible UCR related funding opportunities, which was first identified in March 2021, was raised by DfT officials and TS officials followed-up with a number of specific clarification questions. Answers to these were received in May, and a follow-on meeting occurred on 16 June.

A subsequent discussion is scheduled for 31 October which will cover UCR recommendations and associated proposed funding for the A75. Potential development work for the A77 was not identified for funding by the UCR process, so will not be on the agenda for discussion, as, along with all other transport recommendations identified by STPR2, it remains a devolved matter.

We understand that stigma associated with particular health conditions, including liver disease, can create very specific challenges - it can isolate people from their communities and act as a significant barrier to seeking help and support. This can increase the harms experienced due to delayed presentation especially given the generalised association between liver disease and alcohol misuse and/or drug abuse.

The Scottish Government is committed to tackling this stigma. We are continuing to work on tangible actions that can help reduce stigma experience by people who use drugs and/ or drinking alcohol at hazardous and harmful levels

On 20 June 2022, Public Health Scotland launched the Challenging Weight Stigma Learning Hub. The learning hub aims to raise awareness of the impact weight stigma can have on people living with overweight and obesity and what health professionals can do to mitigate this. It is interactive and has been developed alongside academics, health professionals and those with lived experience of stigma.

In Scotland, the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) appraises the clinical and cost-effectiveness of newly-licensed medicines. Following a full submission for zanubrutinib (Brukinsa ® ) as monotherapy for the treatment of adult patients with Waldenström’s macroglobulinaemia (WM) who have received at least one prior therapy, or in first line treatment for patients unsuitable for chemo-immunotherapy, the SMC issued ‘not recommended’ advice for routine use of this medicine in NHS Scotland on 12 September 2022. The advice detailed that a comparable drug is currently available for this indication, and the company did not present a sufficiently robust economic analysis to gain acceptance by the SMC.

However, the SMC has received a fast track resubmission which was reviewed at the SMC’s Committee meeting on 4 October 2022, and its advice will be published on 7 November 2022. In the meantime, you can access a summary of the current status of this resubmission on the SMC’s website here .

There are alternative routes of access available for a medicine that is not recommended by the SMC. A doctor can request access to licensed medicines for a patient on an individual ‘case-by-case’ basis through the Peer Approved Clinical System (PACS) Tier Two process, where a doctor considers there would be a clinical benefit for a patient.

The decision on whether to prescribe a medicine for a patient, and which medicine to prescribe, is entirely one for the clinician in charge of a patient’s care to make, having taken into account the patient’s clinical condition and the safety of the patient.