The former top civil servant in the Health Ministry is now in charge of keeping the economy fighting fit.

Donald Scott, 47, has moved from the Permanent Secretary post at Health and Family Services to become the new Financial Secretary at the Ministry of Finance.

A Government spokesman said: "Mr. Scott has had a distinguished career in Government, which began when he was 19 years old as a census clerk in the Statistics Department.

"He quickly rose through the ranks in that Department and, in January, 1986, he became Chief Statistician.

"In this capacity he was responsible for administering Census 1991 as well as for producing, on a regular basis, a broad range of economic and social statistics and reports, including the Retail Sales Index, Consumer Price Index and the Quarterly Bulletin of Statistics.'' Mr. Scott was educated in Bermuda and Canada, where he earned a BA (Hons) in Economics and Sociology from Nova Scotia's Dalhousie University.

Scott takes over as Financial Secretary He also completed the Bermuda Government training programmes for senior and executive management in 1986, 1990 and 1991, as well as the Commonwealth Study Conference at England's Oxford University in 1992.

Mr. Scott's new job -- effective from yesterday -- includes acting as Chief Financial Officer for Government with responsibilities for raising revenue and controlling expenditure.

He will also manage all the Departments within the Ministry of Finance and serve on a number of Government Boards.

Mr. Scott replaces former Financial Secretary Peter Hardy, who retired at the end of last month.

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