Fresh claims of secrecy were made today about Bradford Council's problem-torn training schemes as members protested about a meeting being cancelled.

An interim report by auditors investigating the Council-run schemes in Bradford and Keighley has been sent to director of regeneration David Kennedy.

But training sub-committee member Councillor David Ward has protested about a meeting being cancelled on January 5 to discuss the crisis. He said the report should be produced to councillors and full discussions should take place.

But he said: "The training sub-committee meeting in January has been called off and I think it is absolutely essential for us to be discussing it."

He said he was contacting acting chief executive Phillip Robinson to demand a meeting in the near future for consideration of the issues.

The investigation is being carried out by the Government's qualifications and curriculum authority and auditors after irregularities were discovered in the National Vocational Qualification scheme.

The training centre at Metrochange House has closed down because officers say they were unable to put recommendations by examining bodies into place without affecting timescales for trainees.

Now 400 students are understood to have been affected by the problems in the centres by having to retake exams after qualifications were found to be invalid or it was discovered they had not done enough work.

The problems came to light after a complaint was made by a member of the public to one of the examining boards.

Trainees have complained to the Tele-graph & Argus that work laid unmarked for months, there were insufficient books and they were not helped by trainers.

The Council has put an action plan in to force to try to rectify the difficulties.

Training sub-committee chairman Councillor Flo Collard said the meeting had been cancelled because of administrative problems due to the New Year break at City Hall. She said another meeting had been scheduled for February.

A Council spokesman said auditors' reports were not made available to councillors because investigations could result in members having to sit on appeals panels if any staffing matters had to be dealt with.

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