General Question Time – in the Scottish Parliament at on 8 January 2026.
Elizabeth Smith
Conservative
To ask the Scottish Government what recent engagement it has had with Scottish mountain rescue teams regarding mountain safety this winter. (S6O-05342)
Jenni Minto
Scottish National Party
The Scottish Government is committed to supporting safety in the mountains to provide safe opportunities for people to enjoy the outdoors and reap the physical and mental health benefits of being active in nature.
We continue to engage regularly with the chair of Scottish Mountain Rescue and the spokesperson for the two independent teams at Glencoe and Cairngorm about a range of issues affecting mountain rescue teams across Scotland. We are supportive of the ThinkWINTER campaign, which encourages people to plan ahead and think about winter conditions before heading out on the hills and provides an online resource with links to all the information that is needed for exceptional mountain adventures.
Elizabeth Smith
Conservative
The Minister will have seen the warnings from Welsh mountain rescue teams just before Christmas about the worrying increase in irresponsible behaviour in the mountains placing unsustainable pressure on resources. She will also have seen the report from Cairngorm Mountain Rescue Team, which had to rescue two young men who had headed out to Ben Macdui in trainers and joggers at night and in -15°C.
What is the Scottish Government doing to address such irresponsible behaviour, much of which is championed on social media? It is clear that the current strategy is not working.
Jenni Minto
Scottish National Party
I thank Liz Smith for her important follow-up question. I also thank her and other members for their work on promoting mountain safety and the ThinkWINTER campaign.
I pass on my appreciation to mountain rescue teams across Scotland, which have been playing an important part through established partnership arrangements alongside other community sector organisations and statutory emergency response agencies in assisting communities during the current severe weather.
Ms Smith raises the important point. We need to recognise that conditions at ground level are not what they could be at the summit of—or even on the way up—a mountain. The Scottish Government is supportive of the proposed mountain safety action plan. My colleague the Minister for Drugs and Alcohol Policy and Sport recently met Mountaineering Scotland to discuss overall mountain safety, and those discussions also covered the work that is being undertaken on the creation of the mountain safety action plan.
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Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.
