Government is beginning to lay the groundwork for full-time Ministers, Premier Alex Scott announced yesterday.

The Premier tabled a bill in the House of Assembly yesterday morning establishing an independent Board to review and make recommendations to the Legislature concerning the salaries of its members ? MPs, Senators and Ministers.

?The first responsibility of the new body, the Ministers and Members Salaries Review Board, will be to establish a realistic benchmark for salaries, and thereafter to report every two years in October to make recommendations on any increases.

?In keeping with practice elsewhere, membership of the new body will include but not be limited to an accountant, an attorney or retired judge, a former Parliamentarian, two individuals nominated by the Leader of the Opposition, and not more than three other individuals.

?The Board will be appointed by the Premier following consultation with the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Assembly, and the Leader of the Opposition.

The Board will deliver its report to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Assembly to be laid in both Houses of the Legislature.?

Bermuda?s legislative members are underpaid compared to the rest of the world, the Premier said, citing figures from the US, UK, Canada and Jamaica.

The Board was established following the report of a consultant hired by the Finance Ministry, he said ? and it was ?appropriate? to consider the need for full-time Ministers in the context of this initiative.

As for whether the move to full-time Ministers would result in a consolidation of the Cabinet, Mr. Scott said decisions would have to be made on whether the initiative would take place all at once or whether it would be phased in over time.

Any Minister whose work outside of Government is deemed important enough that they cannot become a full-time Minister would be paid on a scale according to the amount of time they give, he said ? adding that most Ministers are already full-time, but the initiative would simply allow them to afford to be full-time.

The decision that some Ministers would have to make between their public and their private lives would be made after the Board had reported on the framework of the system, he said.

The move is being made to attract the best possible talent into Government, he said, adding law makers are no longer the ?landed gentry ? they are looking more and more like Mr. and Mrs. Average Bermudian?.

However, it was noted, some would argue that members of the Legislature are fully aware of the financial remuneration they would receive in public service when they make the choice to go into politics ? so why increase the remuneration now??Why penalise people for going into public service?? the Premier replied.