NVQ's have only really been deemed necessary in relatively recent years, because it was evident that even time served apprentices wasn't getting the necessary all round work skills and experience during their training. Some had only ever been involved in domestic work etc.... Couple this with the declining level of college training standards, that seem to base the majority of coursework and practical training around domestic type installations, and you have the reasoning behind the NVQ's particularly at the the level 3 band!!
This wasn't the case at all, in the majority of cases for indentured apprenticeships in the past, during the time of C&G 236/2360. No such thing as NVQ's and AM2's etc in my day. But the majority of electricians of my era,coming out of there time could and would have been competent to have entered any sector of the electrical industry....
What makes me laugh, is that the domestic sector has always been considered by fully qualified electricians, as being the bottom of the pile, yet here we are, insisting on NVQ Lv 3 for those electricians working in the domestic sector, and sod all requirement for the far more onerous sectors like heavy/large commercial and industrial sectors. Only the JIB seem to have any control over these sectors and then only during the construction stage!!
What you need is an industry wide STANDARD that ALL Electricians need to attain. Otherwise it's all basically just an ongoing farce, which suits the Scam providers, who i have no doubt will find ways to circumvent or minimise the majority of these suggested changes...