I have to say, I find myself agreeing with docwindows. The simple fact is that you don't need an NVQ to clean windows, and the only reason Andy Willis and his crew are offering one is becuase the government pays them for each person they get to do one.
If it weren't for the government payments, they wouldn't offer it, hence the reason they don't offer it to under 19s. I don't think anyone would ever pay for it themselves, because deep down everone realises its pretty pointless and a bit of a joke. Ask anyone outside of the window cleaning industry about it, and they will burst out laughing at the very notion of it.
Now as I get older, I find myself thinking more closely about what my taxes are spent on, and handing out my tax money to a company so that they can deliver a pointless course that nobody would ever pay their own money for, to me at least, is pretty outrageous.
I remember this being talked about on here a while ago, and the figure of £1,300 per person was bandied about. No idea if that's a true (maybe Andy willis can tell us how much he gets from the government per person? Its our money after all) but if it is indeed £1,300 that means for 10 people on his course he gets £13,000.
I can think of a myriad of things that could be better spent on, like not closing libraries, or making police officers redundant. Rather than so company can make fat profits.
