Shadow Social Services Minister Renee Webb has called for a complete review of the welfare system.

Speaking at the end of the House of Assembly's first session last Friday, Ms Webb said: "I am very concerned with the number of people in this Country who are consistently on welfare. I am disturbed that the number of people on welfare continues to increase.'' Ms Webb said there did not appear to be any moves to put training schemes in place to give people necessary skills.

"I am particularly concerned that the taxpayers continue to pay for people to be on welfare,'' she stressed. "We need to put people in this Country back to work.'' Ms Webb said she knew of a 29-year-old woman whose husband was in prison.

This woman wanted to get off social assistance and do a course at Bermuda College, she said.

"We are creating a welfare society and mentality. I think we in this Country should be very concerned that this state of affairs is happening.'' Ms Webb stressed she was not advocating the abolition of the welfare system.

But she said Bermuda should not follow America's example of having several generations of welfare recipients.

Social Services Minister Harry Soares said, among other things, Government was going to set up a National Training Board.

The board, which will replace the Apprenticeship Training Council, is expected to encourage and coordinate training in the private and public sectors.

To be created by a National Training Bill which is expected to be introduced in the House before Christmas, the board -- according to the Throne Speech -- will help Bermudians at every educational level acquire necessary skills, particularly computer skills, which will enable them to gain meaningful employment.

And Finance Minister Grant Gibbons took Ms Webb to task, claiming she had presented the wrong picture. He said the amount of social assistance paid out in October 1996 had dropped by about $100,000 from October 1995.

The number of recipients of housing assistance had also gone down, he added.

Dr. Gibbons said Ms Webb had recently claimed Government was facing a cash crisis -- and this, too, had been absolutely wrong.

He suggested Ms Webb should check her facts in future.

Labour Minister Quinton Edness later told The Royal Gazette Government wanted to concentrate on developing people, particularly in the area of technology.

"We are broadening the focus on training because of what is happening in society,'' he said. "We made a promise that we would get this (National Training Board) set up in this session and we will.'' He also pointed out that Government intended to broaden current procedures which attach training commitments to the granting of work permits.

"We will often require an employer who applies to bring in a non-Bermudian to assure us that a Bermudian is also taken on and trained, whether it (the job) be in conjunction with construction or some administrative post.

"This will also apply where we think that Bermudians are available and not trained or if there's a Bermudian with potential.

"Sometimes we even require a company to set up a training scheme.'' RENEE WEBB -- "We need to put people in this Country back to work.''