It's not worth a jot, if the holder has only gone through the motions. I'm not saying that all holders of the NVQ 3 haven't completed them legitimately, but there are far too many that used totally bogus photo's and logbook entries therefore gaining an equally bogus NVQ cert!!
Where a certification system of checks and balances is open to abuse/fraud, then you'll generally find that is what's going to happen, ...it's human nature, especially where high fee's are concerned.
Yes it's the best you have at the moment, but at the end of the day it's a sticky plaster to cover up the falling standards of training. There is a lot to be said and missed about the training many of those so-called old sparks/dinosaurs training. ....And you're dead right, I AM one of them and damn proud to be so too!!