Mr. Andrew Brownlee:

Mr. Beausang has summarised the situation. It is a relatively low dropout rate when one compares it to technical areas in higher education. In an apprenticeship one is trying to impart highly specialised technical knowledge to apprentices.

It is tough, it is supposed to be tough and some people cannot make it through the robust on-the-job and off-the-job assessments. An awful lot of small businesses recruit apprentices. We are depending on those businesses staying alive for the four- or five-year period, and if they do not we sometimes lose the apprentice as a result. We have to try to do everything to reduce the dropout rate, but it actually does not compare too unfavourably with higher education.