the Health and Social Services Ministry Shadow Health and Social Services Minister Renee Webb questioned why clothing costs in the prisons had risen by 115 percent.

And she wanted to know why salaries accounted for 78 to 79 percent of the Prison's budget.

Noting that prison should be a place for reform, Ms Webb praised the Government for "finally'' introducing a sex offenders programme.

But she reminded the public not to have a false sense of security since the rate of recidivism was still high despite the existence of such programmes.

Ms Webb also questioned why the budget for Financial Services was decreased by 12 percent to $13,007,000.

During the Health and Social Services Budget debate, Parliamentary Secretary for Community and Cultural Affairs Grace Bell argued that the public had to be educated on the benefits of keeping themselves healthy.

If her warning was not heeded, she said, health care costs would "skyrocket''.

After speaking of the effects of second hand smoke on non smokers, Mrs. Bell reminded the public of their role in their own health care.

"Our individual health care is in our own hands in conjunction with health practitioners.'' Noting that he was an "expert witness'' on the issue of health care, Shadow Human Affairs Minister Dr. Ewart Brown said it was important to cast a critical eye on the hospital.

Dr. Brown argued that the Government was subsidising insurance companies by picking up the tab for the treatment of the young and old at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital.

He said that insurance companies "cherry picked'' by insuring only the healthy middle-aged portion of the population. And that this practice resulted in the Government shouldering the lion's share of health care costs.

"Insurance companies need to absorb some,'' he added.

Dr. Brown said that the public's practice of using the emergency room as a doctor's office also created a burden.

He said that people waited until too late to get care and that often the emergency room was their first health care contact.

He backed Ms Webb's call for the Hospital Insurance Plan to be expanded to cover doctors' visits so that people could get preventive care and "not cause a heavy bill later''.

Meanwhile, Shadow Youth Development, Sport and Recreation Minister Nelson Bascome asked the Government how the new sports drugs testing rules would affect Government laboratory costs.