Shadow Education Minister Grant Gibbons yesterday accused Government of being "grossly unfair" to a civil servant who has been suspended on full pay for more than a year — and to taxpayers footing the bill for her salary.

The woman, understood to earn more than $60,000 a year, has never had a disciplinary hearing or been told she faces any charges since her suspension from the National Training Board (NTB) on September 21, 2006.

Dr. Gibbons said her ongoing absence from work — revealed in The Royal Gazette earlier this week — needed to be quickly resolved. "It's hard to believe that this matter is still outstanding and there apparently is no resolution in sight," he said. "It's grossly unfair to the civil servant and to the taxpayer to have this situation still in limbo after 14 months."

The woman, believed to be in her 40s, was suspended along with NTB executive officer Michael Stowe as part of a civil service probe into the board's finances. Mr. Stowe was reinstated on February 27 this year.

Dr. Gibbons said the episode had set back by months the efforts of the NTB — a publicly-funded quango which offers technical and vocational training to Bermudians on the Island and abroad — because it was deprived of experienced officers.

"This continuing suspension casts doubt over the credibility of the NTB and makes it more difficult for it to effectively carry out its very important responsibilities for technical training and education," he added.

The former Opposition leader also called on both the Labour Minister and the Education Minister to resolve ongoing concerns about the quality of an electrical wiring lab at Bermuda College.

Mr. Stowe told this newspaper that the NTB, which co-sponsors an electric wiring course at the college with industry, had launched an investigation into the state of the lab. The college denied this was the case.

Dr. Gibbons said: "Clearly, this is more than simply a turf war, as it touches on substantive issues related to the quality of technical education being provided by the college and demonstrates that the college's relationship with the NTB is bordering on dysfunctional."

He said if industry opted to withdraw from the programme it would raise serious questions about the ability of the college and the NTB to work together on the training and workforce development of Bermudians.

"Unless they work together effectively, we will continue to see more and more non-Bermudians being imported to do the jobs that Bermudians should be filling if they could get proper training," he said.

"We are also likely to see more Bermudians being sent overseas for training and in some cases to institutions that aren't even accredited."

He said the number of Bermudians being trained at the college was constantly falling — despite it having a budget of more than $18 million.

Dr. Gibbons said the United Bermuda Party had a comprehensive and integrated plan for technical education in its manifesto which would begin in middle schools.

Neither Labour Minister Derrick Burgess or the college responded to a request for comment yesterday.