The Scottish Government says its new suicide prevention plan is designed to continue the downward trend in Scotland's suicide statistics.

It is true that the figures continue to improve — on the basis that they are calculated on five year averages. But last year, the suicide rate rose for the first time in six years.

Coincidentally, last year was the first since the government's previous suicide prevention strategy expired in 2016.

Correlation is not causality. And the numbers are small, meaning that it is hard to draw conclusions. On the basis of a single year, it would be wrong to assume this is the start of a new, upward trend.

Nevertheless, Samaritan's Scotland say the recent rise is a warning sign. Which makes the publication of the new suicide prevention plan - two years overdue - an important development

Last year 728 died by suicide in Scotland and for men under the age of 50 it remains the leading cause of death. Each suicide ends not just one life but brings grief and devastation to many others.

But there is a sense that progress on suicide prevention in Scotland has stalled.

Under the previous strategy, each council had a Choose Life coordinator, responsible for overseeing local efforts to cut suicide rates. But ring-fencing for these posts was abolished, and it has become difficult to establish how much money councils are now spending on this programme.

Anecdotally mental health charities say that while councils appear to have preserved the roles, many have reduced their scope and ambition. In many case the function has been rolled into other jobs, leaving coordinators in most of the country juggling this role in a part-time manner at best.

Ahead of the announcement, there was concern that a 'plan' rather than a 'strategy' was a sign ministers were downgrading the importance of suicide prevention. The Government insists this is not the case.

But what was presented yesterday is thin.

Given frequent calls for parity between mental health and physical health, it would be contrary not to welcome the proposal for training in a kind of "mental health first aid" in workplaces, in the same way that employers are required to have someone responsible for physical first-aid.

But there is much that is missing. We know a lot about who is most at risk of suicide, but the plan gives no indication of how we might translate that into action. There has been no evaluation of previous suicide prevention work. There are no targets, or timescales, or any indication of whether new resources will be available or existing budgets preserved.

Much more detail is needed. The plan sets out four actions, two of which are glorified talking shops, one is a vague commitment to do more online and the only substantial one is the sensible proposal for mental health training in workplaces. But there is no detail about how this will be delivered in practice.

Perhaps ministers will have more to say about goals, timings and resources as the consultation progresses. These are the elements that together might constitute a plan. At present, it is hard to escape the feeling that this is no strategy, not even a plan, so much as a wish-list, albeit one that has been two years in the making.