Opposition Leader Kim Swan is calling on Government to clarify whether full-time Cabinet ministers are allowed to have other jobs after Dale Butler revealed that he is still a director for a restaurant group.

Mr. Butler, the Culture and Social Rehabilitation Minister, draws the $150,000-a-year salary of a full-time minister but told MPs on Friday that he remained a special projects director for the Little Venice group, which owns a number of restaurants across the Island.

He only became a full-time minister in 2007, after four years as a part-time member of Cabinet. While he was part-time, Mr. Butler remained a training director for Little Venice, a position he had held since 1999.

He told MPs: "In 2007, upon being reappointed to Cabinet as the full-time Minister of Culture and Social Rehabilitation, I relinquished my position as a training director for Little Venice group, but remained as a special projects director."

He added that he also gave up a directorship with BF&M Insurance. "I have thus explained and clarified for this honourable House and the public that I am a full-time minister and enjoy my work for the people immensely," he said.

Mr. Swan said last night that Government needed to give clearer guidance on whether a full-time minister could be employed in any other capacity — particularly since it amended the law to give full-time ministers a higher salary.

And he claimed Mr. Butler's statement contained "some ambiguity" since it did not detail how much time he spends working for Little Venice.

"It's not a matter of singling out any person but we find it a bit unusual and it makes a bit of a mockery of the distinction between full and part-time," said Mr. Swan.

"There is a pay differential. Does it now mean that a full-time person can have other employment? If you are a minister, you are going to make a full-time commitment."

Full-time Cabinet ministers have earned $50,000 more than part-time ministers since the law was amended by this Government in 2006. All of the current Cabinet are full-time, except for Finance Minister Paula Cox and Education Minister Randy Horton.

Mr. Swan said: "I don't want to single out members but if we are going to differentiate between full-time and part-time that way there has to be a line that has to be drawn.

"There should be some clarification as to how you satisfy the criteria. The concern is that you have legislation which requires ministers to disclose whether they are full-time or part-time and it seems that as long as a member says 'I'm full-time' that's all that's required."

Premier Ewart Brown told The Royal Gazette last night that he was scheduled to answer parliamentary questions raised by Mr. Swan on full and part-time ministers in the House of Assembly today (Monday).

"Since he was the original questioner, I think I should answer him in the House first," the Premier said.

Dr. Brown has previously stated that there are no statutory definitions or guidance on determining whether or not a ministerial position is full-time.

He said last May that criteria such as the size and budget of the ministry, its workload, the number of full-time ministers required to enable good governance and economic factors were all taken into consideration.

In his written answers to the parliamentary questions put by Mr. Swan, Dr. Brown says that Deputy Premier Ms Cox is employed as a general counsel with ACE Ltd and that Mr. Horton is employed by the Fairmont Hamilton.

Asked whether full-time Cabinet ministers are permitted to have other employment, he answers that both full-time and part-time ministers are guided by the terms of the Ministerial Code of Conduct, which states that they "must ensure that no conflict arises, or appears to arise, between their duties and their private interests".

Mr. Butler said yesterday that he put in more than 60 hours a week as Minister and only worked for Little Venice during his lunch hours and on an evening.

"I think the Opposition has to stop being so trite," he said. "The Opposition needs to stop playing petty games. What I do during my lunch hours or what I do after work is my own business."