NVQ failure 'triumph for the market'

* National Vocational Qualifications have failed to herald the promised revolution in training, MPs heard this week. The House of Commons Education and Employment Committee, taking evidence for its inquiry into post-16 participation, heard that the failure of the NVQ was "a triumph by the market over the planners". Francis Green, professor of economics at the University of Kent, said that the NVQ had been focused too narrowly and was not transferable.