There were a "startling" 144 cases of alleged elder abuse reported between April and December last year, MPs heard yesterday.

The figure, contained in this year's Budget book, was highlighted by Shadow Health and Seniors Minister Louise Jackson during a debate on the Ministry of Culture and Social Rehabilitation.

In each case, an investigation was begun within 48 hours of the complaint being made. Mrs. Jackson said the abuse of seniors was not fully understood by the community, despite a campaign launched by Government last year to publicise the passing of the Senior Abuse Register Act.

"We have had 140 something reports of elder abuse," she said. "To my mind, that's startling."

Mrs. Jackson also touched on the high cost of residential care for seniors, describing the $7,580 monthly cost of a place for someone in need of nursing care at the Continuing Care Unit at the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital as "whopping".

She said too many people were in need of places at rest homes and waiting lists were too long.

Mrs. Jackson also said she was "pleading" with Culture and Social Rehabilitation Minister Dale Butler to give more money in future to the Women's Resource Centre and the Physical Abuse Centre, which each got $70,000 in this year's Budget.

Yesterday afternoon's debate followed detailed briefs from Mr. Butler on the Mirrors programme, Child and Family Services, the Department of Financial Assistance, Court Services and National Drug Control (see separate stories).

Shadow Housing and Family Development Minister Donte Hunt raised the prospect of a sex offenders register for Bermuda — something Mr. Butler later said would not fall under his Ministry.

Mr. Hunt said everyone ought to know if a dangerous sex offender was moving into their community.

"I understand that Bermuda is small and it would have certain ramifications but I think it's something that we should look at."

Turning to Government's five-year master plan for tackling drugs, released at the end of 2007, he said it did not contain enough measurable targets, making progress difficult to track.

He said the money anticipated in the report for this year was some $15 million but less than $5 million was alloted to drug control in this year's Budget.

Government backbencher Neletha Butterfield criticised parents who leave their children to be "raised up like weeds in a parking lot" and talked about the high cost of putting children into state care.

The Budget book shows that the average cost of housing a child at Brangman Home per day is now $332. Ms Butterfield said that translated to more than $120,000 a year.

She said a family with a child in care and a parent in Westgate Jail — at a cost of $80,000 a year — was ratcheting up a $200,000 bill each year for the state.

The MP, who provides services to the Ministry and described herself as a caregiver, said Government was attempting to "fix" society's ills but called on parents to take responsibility for their offspring.

Shadow Labour and Immigration Minister Shawn Crockwell praised the Mirrors programme and said he had agreed to participate himself, but added: "It's important that we keep a close eye on the objective of the programme.

"We are spending a large amount of money and these young people deserve it. We as a country need the programme to be successful."

He said it was not the first such initiative, recalling the Alternative to Incarceration programme in the late 1990s. "I don't think we got the kind of output measures that we were told were coming," he said.

He said the Mirrors programme coupled with spending on the Ministry's psycho-educational scheme meant a bill of more than $5 million a year. That kind of money means "we need to see lives being transformed", added Mr. Crockwell.

Opposition backbencher Charles Swan asked the Minister how many people were being helped by Financial Assistance and was told it was between 1,200 and 1,300, with another 150 to 200 still completing the paperwork at any one time.

Opposition Leader Kim Swan spoke of the great work being done by the Salvation Army, which receives funding from the Ministry, and said he hoped the charity's relationship with Government was a good one after previous difficulties.

"We talk about faith-based tourism. If there is anything faith-based, this is the heart and soul of where faith should be," he said.

Mr. Swan asked why Government hadn't introduced more child care day centres like the one at Happy Valley. "We should long have had three or four of them," he said. Mr. Butler agreed, telling the House: "We score zero on that."