Do you remember that awful TV advert when the Train to Gain scheme was initially launched, where the somewhat peculiar creative involved a lorry made out of disembodied hands? Just in case one was too dim to get the message from the voiceover, the hands then turned bright blue, and at the end spell out the word "skills". I remember thinking to myself at the time "what a pile of tosh, this looks like a complete what a waste of money", and unhappily this has proved accurate according to the recent damning report on the programme. I think if the ad had been shown to a roomful of SME owner/managers prior to launch, they would have unanimously said "forget it".

What with Train to Gain, Individual Learning Accounts, faffage over Sector Skills Councils... it's an apoplexy-inducing list, and I just don't understand why the powers that be in this country keeps stuffing these schemes up, squandering squillions in the process.

One of the most rage-inducing things about the Train to Gain report is the criticism about inadequate anti-fraud measures. Following the near £100m of public money that disappeared during the Individual Learning Accounts debacle, this is beyond belief.

It made me wonder, was there ever a time when training provisions weren't dysfunctional? When things worked effectively for all parties, and provided value for money in the process? What lessons can we learn from things that were successful in the past? When I started work, for example, I was on a YOPS scheme, £23 a week if I remember correctly, and don't spend it all at once. It was simple enough, and it seemed to work. Well, it did for me. And my employer.