Senate approves Health, Social Services funding
of Health and Social Services.
Community and Cultural Affairs Minister Sen. Yvette Swan launched the debate and said it should not surprise anyone that the department commanded the largest percentage of the Budget with more than $1 million allocated to expenditure.
Bermuda was moving toward a new millennium and the public would be expecting more services, especially in this area, she said.
Managerial skills were being developed and staffing was being reorganised to improve the department's effectiveness, she said.
Meanwhile a strategy with ongoing programmes was being adopted and recommendations from a number of previous reviews would be put in place to ensure residents had access to the appropriate mix of services which were important to their needs.
The Ministry was working with other agencies involved in the Country's social welfare and Sen. Swan said she was encouraged that individuals were also stepping up to help people in need.
She added that a comprehensive school health programme was being developed by the department in conjunction with the Education Ministry and would soon be in place.
This would enable the department to go into schools and reach students with three levels of programmes -- preventative, early intervention and supportive.
She said this scheme would be more prominent in the restructured school system and would play a significant role in the management of student behaviour.
It was expected to reduce the risk of substance abuse and sexuality issues -- including sexually transmitted diseases and childhood pregnancies -- while developing healthy and positive lifestyles.
Sen. Swan noted the number of families needing financial assistance was down but there were still many people without enough money to meet their basic needs.
The department was working with the Labour Ministry to implement training programmes for retraining people on financial assistance so they could become employed and self sufficient eventually.
The major programme underway in the prisons was the creation of a halfway house for inmates, continued Sen. Swan.
She said this would be in place by late summer and should help alleviate the problem of inmates being released into society with no where to go and subsequently re-offending.
Sen. Swan said the child development programme which targeted pre-school aged children was now solidly in place and was focusing on strengthening the family with follow up programmes to confirm their needs.
Opposition Senate Leader Milton Scott said he wished departments would produce annual reports before the Budget to aid meaningful debate in the Upper House.
He said the Island's social stability was under siege due to the disintegration of the family unit.
Many young people were more concerned about their gang or posse and a task force should be set up to look at this increasing problem.
The department helped put individuals on the right track which was important as a country was measured by how it took care of its people whether they be young, inmates or dependent on financial assistance, he continued.
But a message also needed to be sent out that poor social behaviour would not be tolerated -- particularly by the young.
He suggested giving young offenders an inside view of prison to show them what it was like when their freedom was controlled by someone else.
Sen. Scott also expressed concern about available services for 17- to 23-year-old men and women who tended to fall through the cracks and called for services to be made more effective.
Sen. Neletha (Honey) Butterfield (PLP) said her primary concerns focused on young people using drugs.
She said they did not seem to be getting adequate assistance and pointed to education as being a key to solving the problem.
But people also needed to be held accountable for what was creating the Country's social ills, she added.