Gazette has learned.

And Premier Pamela Gordon is understood to be considering a major Cabinet shuffle in the run-up to the next General Election.

The election must be called by October at the latest, but could be held as early as May.

UBP insiders said yesterday that Ms Gordon is in no rush to secure replacements for retired Pembroke West MP and Health and Social Services Minister Clarence Terceira and Hamilton East's ex-Progressive Labour Party MP Trevor Woolridge.

Ms Gordon will drop the writ naming the day for polls in Pembroke West and Hamilton East early next week.

And she is set to go for post-Budget by-elections to allow plenty of time for effective campaigns to be mounted by UBP hopefuls Gary Pitman (Pembroke West) and Francis Furbert (Hamilton East).

And Ms Gordon is likely to want to cash in on what is likely to be a feel-good factor following Finance Minister Grant Gibbons' financal blueprint for the year -- the last before an election.

Ms Gordon has also yet to name a successor for retired Health and Social Services Minister Clarence Terceira.

The Royal Gazette has already reported that Dr. Terceira's predecessor Harry Soares has turned down the job.

And Ms Gordon is likely to go for a stopgap solution to tide Government over the Budget and up to a major shuffling of her Cabinet deck.

But her options are limited -- few backbench MPs have the experience thought to be required for the job.

Newcomers like Kim Young, a former nurse with a background in health and social issues, Erwin Adderley and Michael Dunkley may well hold Ministerial rank in the future.

But in the meantime, the Premier is said to be happy to let them gather political experience on the backbenches rather than throwing them in at the deep end.

Former Cabinet members, like ex-Technology and Information Minister John Barritt, have the necessary experience.

And Leonard Gibbons, formerly Works and Engineering Minister who is to retire at the next General Election, could be an ideal choice as an interim Minister -- if he is prepared to rejoin Cabinet.

But in the longer term, the Premier is thought to prefer Home Affairs Minister Quinton Edness for the Health portfolio -- a job he has held before.

REJECTED JOB -- Harry Soares Graphic file name: HARRIE