Opposition MP Grant Gibbons Friday blasted the Progressive Labour Party Government for “gross negligence” over its handling of technical training.

He said there were 18-19,000 tradespeople in the workforce but failure to get training right would only mean more foreign labour would be needed.

Government kept boasting it wouldn’t be business as usual but Dr. Gibbons said with only $3,000 more in the budget for national training this year it was very much business as usual.

He said momentum built up when Terry Lister had been in charge of the National Training Board (NTB) had been totally wasted as men Mr. Lister had appointed had been removed.

He said a month after Mr. Lister left Cabinet his appointee as Bermuda College chairman, Naltan Brangman, who had been tasked with reviving technical education, had been fired.

Dr. Gibbons said Bermuda College was now the last refuge of technical education yet it offered only a handful of technical programmes when 27 were needed. He said a $60,000 spray booth at the college had been sold off. “No one could understand why. Technical education is the unwanted step child at Bermuda College.

“The National Training Board intake at the College used to be 150, it’s my understanding it’s below 100 because Bermuda College is not addressing the needs.”

He said Government was introducing some trades at the middle school level.

“It doesn’t make sense unless you have a coordinated progression from middle school, to senior school to college. There is no vision, no plan, no serious project under the PLP. It’s bits and pieces. We are two years behind on the certification programme. That is how I define gross negligence. If the budget is not there where is the money going to come from?”

Dr. Gibbons said Education Minister Randy Horton had spoken for four and a half hours on his budget brief but devoted just four minutes to technical education. Lack of training opportunities here meant one third of the NTB budget — some $1 million — went on sending people overseas for training but in some cases the schools weren’t even accredited. “It gets worse,” said Dr. Gibbons.

After failing to deliver a certification programme — which was supposed to be rolled out two years ago — another part of Government, Consumer Affairs, was promising something similar, said Dr. Gibbons.

He said there was no real centre for National Certification assessment. The small facility at Jamita House on Reid Street has space for just a handful of people. The suspension of NTB Michael Stowe had put that programme back by about a year, said Dr. Gibbons, who praised Mr. Stowe for coming back after an inquiry into finances had completely exonerated him.

He said Government had promised national certification in 2004 but there were not enough certified Bermudians to manage it. Dr. Gibbons called for the National Training Board to be expanded into a technical education and workforce development agency.

He said it should be given some independence under the Ministry of Labour and that a technical training and assessment facility should be developed on the Bermuda College site — with a national certification and assessment centre separate from this.

He suggested that a relationship should be developed between this agency and the Alberta Institute of Industry and Trade to train instructors in Bermuda.

Dr. Gibbons told the House a site at the West Hall parking lot at the college could incorporate a top-floor restaurant for hospitality students to train at along with a hotel partner.

He also outlined how those studying construction and related trades could actually help build the facility.

“This could be achieved in a few years,” said Dr. Gibbons. “It’s not that difficult. That’s why I don’t understand why the current Progressive Labour Party Government is unable to move this forward.”