Former Education Minister Paula Cox was so concerned about inequitable hiring practices at Bermuda College she hired a consultant to investigate, she revealed yesterday.

But Opposition Education spokesman Neville Darrell questioned why there were still problems as he renewed calls for an inquiry into why non-Bermudians were being favoured.

The College has been the centre of allegations of unfair hiring practices after American Charles Green was appointed president after being interviewed by a wider selection panel than faced by Bermudian applicants.

The redundancy of Bermudian Michael Bradshaw and the appointment of expatriate Abdullah Ahad, whose academic credentials are now in question, have also raised concerns.

Yesterday in the House of Assembly Ms Cox read from a letter she had written to then College chairman Jan Spiering in August, 2002 which reminded the board on its obligation to have a fair employment policy, consistent with the Employment Act 2000, giving equal treatment to Bermudians employed by or applying to be hired by the College.

She wrote: "I have been informed there is a growing concern in some quarters both within and outside of the Bermuda College that there are some unfair and undesirable policies and practices, which warrant review in terms of the employment of staff, particularly in the Information Technology Department of the Bermuda College."

She said the public concerns had been exacerbated by resignations in the IT department which fuelled the view there was unfair and unequal employment practices.

In her letter Ms Cox, who was Education Minister until January this year, recommended former Acting Prisons Commissioner look at the problems on a short-term consultancy basis.

The result was the Wilson report which highlighted irregular hiring practices, perceptions of racism, mass resignations and a climate of fear at the College.

However last night Shadow Education Minister Neville Darrell said: "Because this review has happened what steps have happened to ensure that the recommendations in that inquiry have been acted upon?"

He said the same type of behaviour highlighted in the report was still taking place at the College. "There's been no monitoring or accountability."

He said he had been calling for an inquiry into College hiring practices but had been attacked by Government ? now it was revealed Government had had similar concerns.

The Wilson report recommended ending the College's status as a quango and handing control over to the Ministry of Education. The report said: "As the number of interviews grew, we too commenced to have grave misgivings over practices at the Bermuda College as it relates to the upward mobility of Bermudians.

"The ever decreasing number of male Bermudians in posts of authority also gave us great concern that such should be the case in our major educational institution.

"Given the number of recent resignations of qualified Bermudians we could find no evidence of serious effort to stamp out this disturbing trend. Many qualified Bermudians came forward during the interview process with, in many cases, extraordinary qualifications who have continued to be denied employment at the Bermuda College."

In its 2003 response The College agreed "in a very general sense" with the spirit of Mr. Wilson's findings that its staffing policies and procedures "leave much to be desired".

"The processes involved have been historically flawed, and regrettably are not much improved today.

"There are glaring inconsistencies that remain in the hiring policies ? and those policies that do exist are rendered impotent by an equally long history of non-compliance."

But the College took issue with some of the details in Mr. Wilson's report, particularly about the IT department where it said there were inaccuracies.