Bermuda has more than 900 people receiving social assistance -- a stubborn legacy of the recession, the Social Services Minister said on Friday.

The Hon. Quinton Edness revealed the numbers while explaining to MPs why his Ministry was asking the House of Assembly to approve $4,671,901 in supplementary spending from the 1993 fiscal year.

Although the Minister said he expected the number of people receiving assistance to drop, his Ministry was making sure they got back on their feet through the adoption of re-training programmes.

"We do not wish this to become institutionalised dependency,'' Mr. Edness told the House.

He mentioned adoption of the Riverside programme, a North American re-training scheme that provides incentives to people who want to get off assistance.

Mr. Edness said the social assistance numbers reflected the impact of the recession. The numbers rose from 350 in 1990, to 455 in 1991, to 832 in 1992, to a high of 987 in 1993. The numbers included able-bodied people and under-employed people who were unable to supply family needs.

Mr. Edness said the Ministry had braced for the recession by allocating $6,329,000 for social assistance in the 1992/1993 budget. But actual spending finished at $11,201,000.

"During this period the country was subjected to unprecedented economic recession. In the Government's view, the spending was quite justified.'' Mr. Edness's explanation focussed on the biggest item in an overall Finance Ministry request for $6,797,059 in supplementary Government spending for fiscal 1993.

Finance Minister the Hon. David Saul told the House that the supplementary spending request was 1.2 percent less than fiscal 1993's $332.2 million budget.

"Indeed, to put it succintly, there was no overspending in 1992/1993,'' he said. Capital spending during the year was actually $52.7 million, significantly less than the $83.8 million budgeted.

The spending debate saw individial ministers rise to explain additional spending requests for their Ministries. Education Minister the Hon. Clarence Terceira said the additional $569,710 in spending for education was to cover salaries "not accounted for.'' Mr. Nelson Bascome (PLP) expressed concern following Mr. Edness' remarks that the perception was taking hold that the recession was over. The numbers of people needing assistance from Government did not indicate it.

"This recession isn't going as quickly as some people would have it,'' he said. "We need to be more prudent and put programmes in place so we don't come back each year.'' Mr. Edness said he did not wish to "sugarcoat'' the effects of the recession.

"The Minister of Finance provided in this year's Budget about $8 million in anticipation of people still being in difficulty,'' he said.

Mr. Trevor Woolridge (PLP) questioned the fact that there was no increase in staffing for social assistance, nor an increase for foster care. Mr. Edness acknowledged Mr. Woolridge's point and said the resources of his Ministry had been "stretched to the limit.

"We haven't been able to increase the staff in that area. We need more professionals and foster care homes. We don't have much problem finding foster homes for young children but do for foster kids from eight years and into their teens. We must try and get people who are more compassionate and involved.'' Works Minister the Hon. Leonard Gibbons said his Ministry's supplementary spending of $805,000 was due in part to wages and an increased insurance bill.

The make-work programme that gave people a pay cheque during at the start of the recession initially was to last two weeks but had been extended through to today. So far, up to 110 people had passed through the programme.

Mr. Gibbons also mentioned that Works and Engineering's additional spending was due in part to worldwide catastrophes increasing its insurance by 63 percent, not 23 percent as planned.

Mr. Eugene Cox noted that many of the people hanging out unemployed " on walls'' were there not because they did not want work but because they lacked life skills.

"We need those kinds of programmes,'' he said.

Mr. Gibbons said the temporary work programmes "helps keep pride and self-esteem in place for these individuals.'' He added that some of the programme's participants were now being trained by the Ministry to become landscapers and to "take their rightful place in the workplace.'' Mr. Walter Roberts (PLP) said there was plenty of work around for the programme's maintenance crews to do, particularly roadside tree-trimming and on the bases where the US and Canadian presence was being reduced.

Labour Minister the Hon. Irving Pearman said 24 members of the programme's work crews had already been placed in private sector employment.

He also noted that the Government was concerned about the rate of deterioration of buildings on the military bases, particularly homes some of which were more than 300 years old. Work teams would shortly be going on the Annex lands to take care of the properties.

The House passed the supplementary spending estimates without a vote.