We have the occasional fight with the politicians about it all, with the dreaded "Why do we do it like this? They don't do it like that in the UK!" heard from time to time. Fortunately for us some of our politicians went through the apprenticeship scheme themselves and know the value of it and yet more of them are able to see the value of the scheme. It has been running since the 1960s, works very well so there's no need to change it.
That does not stop overzealous newcomers from questioning the expense but so far we have had little interference, apart from when last year it was announced the scheme would be extended to other areas like retail and a host of other non-traditional apprenticeship areas but without increasing the funding.
The employers were to have their grants massively reduced but the industry went bananas, threatened to stop hiring/sending apprentices or would just train them themselves. Thankfully the government saw sense and "delayed" any changes to the grant so all is OK.....for now.
I get the feeling funding issues will rear their ugly head again in future but we're alright for the foreseeable.