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The latest shake-up in vocational training means cutbacks in the money and time allocated to train Government-funded early years NVQ students. Mary Evans assesses the effect on staff shortages The so-called 'level playing field' of the Government's reformed vocational training is 'littered with potholes', according to one leading provider of childcare training. Some early years funding has been halved, she said, and the natural progression of trainees from NVQ2 to NVQ3 has been halted.

The so-called 'level playing field' of the Government's reformed vocational training is 'littered with potholes', according to one leading provider of childcare training. Some early years funding has been halved, she said, and the natural progression of trainees from NVQ2 to NVQ3 has been halted.

The new Learning and Skills Council was established by the Learning and Skills Act 2000 as a national organisation, with 47 local arms, to be responsible from April for the planning, funding and quality assurance of all post-16 vocational learning in England. It will take over the training functions of the current network of more than 70 Training and Enterprise Councils (TECs) and the funding responsibilities of the Further Education Funding Council. The Government has allocated it an annual budget of over 6 billion for funding around six million learners.

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