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Cable drops apprentice loan scheme after just 404 apply

Apprenticeship loan scheme ditched after less then 2 per cent of the target number applied for loans

Ministers ditched their controversial loan scheme for adult apprentices yesterday after attracting just 404 applications - well short of the 25,000 target.

Business Secretary Vince Cable announced the embarrassing climbdown seven months after the scheme was launched.

It was opened in April after the government slapped a £4,000 price tag on apprenticeships for over-24s for the first time.

Ministers ignored government research warning that nine in 10 adults would abandon plans to study if fees were introduced.

And ministers still insisted that demand would pick-up when the Star reported in September that just 77 people had applied.

But Mr Cable finally admitted the system has "failed" after official figures showed the government target of 25,000 applications has been missed by a huge margin.

"Regulations have to be put through Parliament to conclude it, but we've accepted it didn't work and there's no shame in that" he claimed.

National Union of Students president Toni Pearce said the scheme was "hugely unfair to people who want to study or reskill later in life."

"Asking adults to pay up to £4,000 a year to study for A-levels, Btecs and even to work as apprentices was always the wrong way to go," she said.

Academics' union UCU leader Sally Hunt told the government to cancel the few loans taken out and provide proper funding for apprenticeships.

Mr Cable's U-turn followed the government's admission that it has miscalculated the cost of university loans to the taxpayer.

Experts have also warned that funding for more university and college places from 2014 has not been found.

Ms Hunt added: "Omnishambles might have been 2012's word of the year, but it is quite apt to sum up the government's post-16 education policies.

"Student loans, student numbers and funding for students are all in a mess.

"The government should take a leaf out of Vince Cable's book and go back to the drawing board now to ensure the public does not have to pick up the tab for any more failed experiments."

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