marathon and wide ranging debate which touched on immigration and tourism.

Home Affairs Minister Quinton Edness opened debate on the National Training Board Act, 1997, by telling Parliamentarians it was necessary to replace the Apprenticeship and Training Council.

This new initiative would extend Government's present training capability, he said.

The Council was unable to meet its mandate of ensuring adequate training provisions existed for apprentices to meet the necessary competence and education qualifications in their respective fields due to the construction boom in the 1980s.

Mr. Edness said the high-paid, low-skilled jobs in construction were more attractive than the low-paid apprentice programmes the Council offered.

But the report of the Government's commission on competitiveness identified the need for Bermuda's workforce to become globally competitive. This would strengthen Bermuda's economy and maintain full employment.

The change in global economy and the decline in the Island's tourism and construction industries created a pool of school-leavers and adults who were unable to find employment on the Island.

Mr. Edness said the National Training Board would cover all levels of jobs and activities in the economic sector.

Funding for the Board had been included in the 1997/1998 Budget and he said he hoped it would be up and running by the end of the summer.

It would consist of a chairman, deputy chairman and 13 members, most of whom would represent institutions involved in employment and training.

He said the Board would be responsible for the development, implementation and monitoring of Government policies relating to training and career development.

It would be required to: Produce a strategic plan for the National Training Initiative; Work with the Department of Labour and Training to ensure people's skills and qualifications were matched to the right job; Monitor and evaluate pre-employment initiatives, including provision for people with learning difficulties, and make recommendations to the business community and Education Department; Encourage open access to the Bermuda College to give all secondary school leavers the opportunity to enter higher education; Assist in the establishment of structured technical and vocational education and training; Assist Employer Advisory Groups (EAGs) in developing national quality standards against which employers, training providers and the work force could be measured in order to assess occupational performance; assist (EAGs) in establishing procedures for assessing competence in the workplace; and Evaluate and approve training programmes and learning materials that lead to a Bermuda National Vocation Qualification.

Mr. Edness said a consultant had been engaged to advise and assist in the establishing occupational standards.

This consultant would work closely with the Labour and Training Department to ensure Bermudians could expect equal opportunities when competing for jobs.

The Board would address the concern of those Bermudians unable to secure gainful employment which provided economic, social and psychological benefits.

Government recognised the importance of a good paying job and the fact that training and retraining for better jobs were critical decisions amongst Bermudians -- especially those entering the work force for the first time, recovering addicts, redundancy victims, ex-offenders and the mentally and physically challenged.

But the National Training Board would not work unless people plugged into it and sent their children to be trained and it had the cooperation of employers, warned Mr. Edness.

"It will take a community effort to make the scheme work as effectively as it should work.'' The Labour and Training Department would provide administrative support to the National Training Board which had the ability to set up the EAGs in any area of employment it deemed necessary.

Many employers had already said they would sponsor young people, he added.

But training was everything in the present era of rapid technological progress and was intended to improve the conditions of life and work, increase employment possibilities and promote fundamental human rights.

Mr. Edness said the National Training Board would also encourage entrepreneurship and enterprise development and offer real possibilities for self-development and fulfilment.

Shadow Home Affairs Minister Alex Scott said he was dismayed at the National Training Board Act when he should have been "jumping in jubilation''.

"There are jobs there for Bermudians,'' he stressed. "How Bermudians get into this economy is the mystery that has to be unravelled.'' He noted trainee Government Veterinarian Dr. Susann Smith's case and said he had looked through the new legislation but could not find a job for her in it.

There were trained Bermudians coming out of colleges with degrees but they could not find employment on the Island, he continued.

Meanwhile non-Bermudians were getting jobs and quite often they were being trained at work, he said.

Mr. Scott said: "The basis of the debate we are having today is whether the National Training Board is really going to be the answer, be the panacea, be the magic bullet...I really doubt it.'' Instead the Minister could do one thing which, if done correctly, would "melt away'' a lot of the Opposition's concern.

And that was to close the doors at the Immigration Department to protect Bermudians in the workplace, said Mr. Scott.

Mr. Scott said advertisements appeared daily for positions to be filled but the qualifications asked for disqualified people from obtaining them rather than qualified them.

And he noted that he could not find anything in the legislation which would help those who were incarcerated.

Instead what he saw was "verbiage'' and "mumbo-jumbo''.

The legislation also did not address managements that were insensitive to their Bermudian staff, pointed out Mr. Scott.

If the Minister had done his job right, he continued, these companies would know what it took to be a good corporate citizen in Bermuda.

And he said he had heard Mr. Edness say on the electronic media that only 20 people were selected from 167 applicants to the Labour and Training Department's waiters training programme.

How had so many young men and women reached this point where they were incapable of realising this minimum standard, he asked.

If these 147 people were unable to get in the waiters' training programme then how could others expect to take advantage of the National Training Board Act? "I fear the streets and walls will claim some of those men and women. the Minister is inadvertently recruiting for the walls.'' Prospects of rewards to those being trained were missing from the legislation also, he continued.

There was no promise of a future or prospect of a career or employment, said Mr. Scott.

"I fear Bermudians are being sent around the mulberry bush with no promise of a job at the end of the tunnel.'' He said he also felt other details in the legislation would challenge the courts and would be deemed unacceptable by businesses.

A PLP government would not burden the private sector, he added.

But Maxwell Burgess (UBP) said the Act would get young people involved in a training programme.

He noted Mr. Scott had suggested that Mr. Edness only needed to stop work permits to alleviate the problem so he assumed that might be the route the Opposition would take if in power.

"They can try it,'' he said, "but even if they do that, cut off work permits, they will have a moral obligation to ensure the people filling the vacated jobs are trained.'' Mr. Burgess said the Opposition would also have to tell international business about their plans to create employment.

Retraining young people was one step toward eliminating unemployment and the private sector's help was required because Government could not provide jobs for everyone, he continued.

Mr. Burgess added that the legislation would go a long way towards reducing the number of people "sitting on walls''.

"The legislation is forward looking in terms of how we want to manage ourselves in the 21st Century,'' he said.

Shadow Youth and Sports Minister Nelson Bascome said laws on training had existed since 1971.

And he accused Government of not getting on with training Bermudians, saying: "Government is intent on rebuilding the wheel.'' Finance Minister Grant Gibbons attacked Mr. Scott's statements, saying they lacked substance.

"There was the usual rhetoric, but very little substance. Government has put its money where its mouth is,'' said Dr. Gibbons.

He added that the important element in the legislation was co-operation with the private sector to ensure greater success.

"Far from a lack of substance this Bill cuts to the very heart of what is to be increasingly important, that is the issue of developing our workforce,'' said Dr. Gibbons.

Concluded in Tuesday's newspaper