Well considering the government at present pay financially strapped college students up to £30 to attend college and pass A-levels it seems a fairly cheap alternative to me.Getting the bigger business's and future employers to contribute seems a fair way to get more students trained.Who knows maybe they could even offer business degrees as well.It would add new meaning to the phrase working your way through university.
However IF past governments had used any common sense or forward planning then they would have bent over backwards to retain the apprenticeship system in the first place.Bunch of twonks.