A system of "shadow boards'' to monitor official Government bodies is to be set up by the Opposition United Bermuda Party.

And the mini-boards -- which will mirror major Government boards -- will be used to analyse the work of the official groups.

The UBP advisory groups will also be used to provide a stream of ideas for Opposition MPs to take to the House of Assembly -- and as a seed bed to provide future Parliamentary candidates.

Opposition Leader Pamela Gordon yesterday confirmed the UBP will create its own advisory bodies to back up the UBP Parliamentary team.

Ms Gordon explained: "We have a lot of people who feel they have a contribution to make and they know a lot about specific topics.

"What they want to do is if a specific issue comes up, they're willing to give their input from a board-style point of view.

"It's a more loosely-structured thing than Government boards, but we can utilise the expertise of people who are willing to serve and who have not been invited to serve by the Government.'' She added particular areas of concern to the UBP were hot topics like Environment, Education, Immigration and Health and Family Services.

Ms Gordon said: "There are issues connected with agriculture and fisheries and pollution control we want to look at.'' There are also environmental concerns over calls for fishpots -- banned several years ago to protect the Island's marine life -- to be reintroduced.

Ms Gordon added: "And education is very topical -- people are not hearing anything coming from the Premier in relation to where education is going and they're beginning to feel a sense of disquiet.'' Premier Jennifer Smith retained her Shadow Education porfolio and took on the Minister of Education's role as well as heading the Government after the PLP swept to victory last November.