Government's failure to appoint a new Health and Social Services Minister came under fire yesterday.

The Ministry -- the biggest in Government with an annual budget of more than $103 million -- has been without a full-time Minister for nearly a month.

And a successor will not be appointed until after Premier Pamela Gordon returns from the February 4 meeting of the Dependent Territories Association in London at the earliest -- less than a fortnight before the Budget is announced.

The Ministry is currently being looked after by Labour and Home Affairs Minister Quinton Edness -- who once held the post himself -- on a caretaker basis.

But Shadow Health and Social Services Minister Renee Webb said: "It's amazing they still don't have a Minister, especially with the Budget debate coming up.'' And she claimed: "I think the problem is they can't find anyone who is capable and is prepared to do the job.'' Ms Webb added that the Health and Social Services brief was among the most complex, taking in social assistance, financial services, the hospitals and the prison system. And she said -- even if a Minister is appointed in early February -- he or she would not have much time to master their portfolio before being plunged into the Budget debate.

Dr. Clarence Terceira officially quit the Health and Social Services Ministry and Parliament at the end of last month.

His predecessor, Paget West MP Harry Soares, is understood to have been offered the post and turned it down.

It is understood Ms Gordon is likely to go for a stopgap solution to tide Government over the Budget and up to a major reshuffle designed to stamp her mark on the Cabinet, still largely the one she inherited from ex-Premier David Saul last year.

But her options are limited in that of the backbench MPs likely to be considered, few are thought to have enough experience.

Political newcomers like Kim Young, a former nurse with a background in health and social issues, are understood to be considered to lack the background for the job, although they may be considered for Cabinet in the future.

Possibles for the job include ex-Technology and Information Minister John Barritt or Government Whip Rick Spurling -- Mr. Spurling would likely only consider a Cabinet post on a short-term basis. Ex-Works and Engineering Minister Leonard Gibbons, who is set to retire before the General Election, also has sufficient clout to handle the job.

He could be an ideal interim choice -- if he could be persuaded to step back into a Cabinet hotseat again. In the longer term, the Premier is believed to favour Labour and Home Affairs Minister Quinton Edness for the job -- but his appointment would have to be part of a major reshuffle of her Cabinet pack.

Ms Renee Webb