Community Affairs and Sports Minister Dale Butler said the relationship between quangos and Government was a difficult one as Ministers were supposed to be accountable yet not get deeply involved.

?I am at arm?s length and not supposed to micromanage,? he said. ?But I am going to micromanage where I feel micromanaging is necessary if I am held accountable. It is as simple as that.?

Mr. Butler (pictured) also delivered a response on behalf of Transport Minister Ewart Brown who has to deal with the Public Transport Board, also a quango.

He said some of the issues in the report had been addressed with the chairman of the board and the Permanent Secretary of the Tourism and Transport Ministry having monthly meetings.

And he said the PTB aimed to have at least three town hall meetings a year to promote public transport and get feedback. ?The first was in November, 2004.?

There were talks between Marine and Ports and PTB over integrating public transport, said Mr. Butler.

Mr. Butler then turned to the quangos under his Ministry such as the Commission for Unity and Racial Equality and the Human Rights Commission.

He said the proposed amendment to the Human Rights Act will soon be presented to Cabinet after delays caused by consultation.

Mr. Butler said the new Act will give the Human Rights Commission investigative powers and that legislation should be before the House in the summer.

He said the report had critical things to say about Parish Councils but it got harder to get volunteers to put in the hours.

However the UBP?s Michael Dunkley said Parish Councils were an anachronism in a modern world with centralised government, high tech communications and MPs who took up residents? concerns.

He said a problem with the report was that the compilers only spoke to those inside the organisation ? not those who were supposed to get services from the quango.

?They (parishes) think they are being effective but where is the money??

He said an increasing amount of money was going to Parish Councils ? up to $2.3 million this year ? but with no accountability on how it was spent.

Mr. Dunkley said Government had given no clear reason for going against recommendations in the report by folding the National Drugs Commission into the Health Ministry.

?By moulding it into the Ministry we have ostracised community funding. It?s very difficult to build partnerships,? he said.

Works and Engineering and Housing Minister Ashfield DeVent said the report, named ?Untangling the Quangos?, could have been called ?untangling some of the mess we inherited?.

Replying to criticisms by Opposition MP Wayne Furbert, Mr. DeVent said the culture of poor business practices within the Bermuda Housing Corporation existed before 1998.

?I have read many of the old minutes.?

Education Minister Terry Lister said Government was looking at changing the Bermuda College Act so the chairman of the board could be appointed for longer periods.

He said the lack of succession planning mentioned in the report was being tackled so the College wouldn?t again be in the position of having to appoint a foreigner, although he said American Charles Green was doing an excellent job.

On the issue of campus houses given to staff to live in, the Minister said the rent-free arrangement had been in existence for decades.