Every Child a Talker (ECAT) is part of the government's £52m Better Communication action plan published last December. It is designed to improve early years practitioners' knowledge and understanding of speech, language and communication needs (SLCN).
The money is intended to fund training in every local authority until 2011 and help practitioners develop the skills to spot SLCN early.
But, according to members of the government's reference group for ECAT, little is known about how councils are using their share of the £40m and members are concerned that the government has no plans for a robust evaluation of ECAT.
Anita Kerwin-Nye, The Communication Trust's director and member of the reference group, said: "We need to know that the money for ECAT has been spent and that it has worked. If there are plans to evaluate the programme, nobody has told the group about them."
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