Disciplinary hearings will be held against three Bradford Council officers following a damning report by auditors on NVQ courses in the city.

A council spokesman said the hearings would take place over the next two to three weeks but would not identify the officers.

The hearings follow interviews which took place with the officers when the authority's internal auditors produced a 1,400 page report on alleged irregularities at the Council's training scheme at Metrochange House.

The crisis-hit scheme shut without warning last year after all 79 NVQ awards to students were declared by examination boards to be invalid.

Full investigations were launched by the Government's Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, Council auditors and the examination board, the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

There were allegations that the awards had been made even though the work the trainees needed to do was in some cases not completed.

Trainees who said they had been warned not to speak to the press ignored the instructions and told the Telegraph & Argus that work had not been marked, some staff did not help them and there was a shortage of books and equipment.

Some had obtained jobs on the basis of having the qualifications and had to re-do work.

Councillor Kris Hopkins (Con, Worth Valley) said that as a member of the training sub committee he had received virtually no information or reports about the crisis and had been kept in the dark.

He added: "We haven't been able to find out a thing. Yet suddenly there is a massive auditors' report about it. Yet the sub committee was supposed to deal with it."

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