CHARITIES are calling for “immediate action” to be taken on suicide after the number of people who took their own lives in Scotland rose for the first time in six years.

Figures released by National Records of Scotland yesterday showed an increase of eight per cent to 728 deaths in 2016 compared with 672 the previous year. It is the highest number recorded since 2013.

The report found that suicide disproportionately affects men, who accounted for almost three-quarters of such deaths. A total of 517 male cases were reported, compared with 211 involving females. The most likely age group to be affected was 45 to 49-year-olds, with 93 cases in 2016. More than a third of suicides among males were in those aged between 40 and 54.

The statistics have prompted charities to call for urgent action to be taken, with the Scottish Association for Mental Health (SAMH) urging the Scottish Government to invest more in suicide prevention.

SAMH chief executive Billy Watson said: “The Scottish Government is due to publish a new suicide prevention strategy, and we’d urge them to bring these plans forward. The new strategy must be ambitious, but it also has to deliver on its promises. Public awareness and community services are crucial to tackling suicide rates. We need to ensure that support isn’t reduced at a time when suicide rates are rising and local services are experiencing cuts.

“Our long-standing campaign Two Too Many highlighted the devastating impact of suicide. SAMH works every day to prevent suicide and to support those affected.”

The charity would also like to see more early intervention solutions for children explored given that half of all mental health problems in adulthood begin before the age of 14.

The previous suicide prevention strategy published by the Scottish Government covered the period from 2013 to 2016, and it is currently developing a new action plan which will be published early in 2018.

LibDem MSP Alex Cole-Hamilton claimed replacing the strategy a year or more after the previous one had expired was “shambolic” and called for “swift roll-out of new mental health practitioners in A&E, GP surgeries, the police and prisons”.

James Jopling, Samaritans exec- utive director for Scotland, added to the call for action, saying that after six successive years of falling rates, yesterday’s figures should be seen as an early warning sign.

“While we know that rates can fluctuate year-on-year, what we desperately don’t want to see is this rise in deaths turning into a trend,” he said.

“We saw an 18 per cent fall in the suicide rate during the time of the first strategy, at a time when rates were rising in other parts of the UK. We need a renewed commitment and bold action for deaths by suicide in Scotland to further decline.

“A truly cross-government approach is vital because suicide is not simply a mental health issue. Suicide prevention is an issue of poverty, housing, education and so much more.”

Minister for Mental Health Maureen Watt pointed out that the longer-term trend in Scotland still shows a reduction.

She said: “Suicide is a very complex phenomenon. The 2016 data follow a period in which numbers of deaths by suicide fell year after year. The longer-term trend in Scotland shows a reduction of 17 per cent over the last decade. This downward trend is encouraging and represents a strong achievement by all who work in the field of suicide prevention.”

Watt added the new action plan will be ready for publication in early 2018.