Ever since John Burrows and his wife Carol opened their first hair salon in 1983, they have been taking on apprentices. 'In my generation, an apprenticeship was the way to learn a trade so it was the obvious way for us to get the skilled staff we needed,' Mr. Burrows says. Today, the Burrows' salon, Upper Cut in Weston-super-Mare, employs 35 people. Of the 16 stylists, 13 progressed through apprenticeships and Mr. Burrows believes a strong culture of training is integral to the company's success. 'Without the apprenticeships scheme our business wouldn't be anything like the size it is today,' Mr. Burrows says. The high-quality training the apprenticeships provide guarantees growth. The more skills staff have, the more effective a business will become. Although Mr. Burrows is an advocate of the scheme, he concedes that occasionally he has suffered problems. They have experienced episodes of theft, poor time keeping and bad discipline, but these are the sort of thing you get when you employ any number of staff. 'Sometimes we have to ask apprentices to leave but often they sort themselves out. One year we had 100 percent completion rate, but our average is around 80 percent, which is double the national rate.' 'There is a risk for small businesses but you can help minimize the potential for problems by looking at the person's history and background.' If Mr. Burrows had one criticism of the scheme, it is that the National Vocational Qualification certificates are very difficult for many of the apprentices to pass. 'The qualifications are not easy—many of the youngsters on the scheme are not academically great and they find it difficult. They need a lot of one-to-one coaching and a lot of help to be able to pass. But when they do it can be extremely gratifying.' One of our apprentices was a girl who was dyslexic and had been expelled from a couple of schools. She was difficult at first but the other girls in the salon helped her develop and she went on to achieve NVQ level four. Now she is working full-time and helping other girls through the scheme. Another small company making use of the apprenticeship scheme is the Topiary Tree, a floristry business with two shops in Malton and Helmsley, North Yorkshire. With only three full-time employees it is one of the smallest businesses in the country to have taken on an apprentice. Gemma Magson, the manager of the business, wanted an apprentice because she was once one herself and wanted to offer someone else the opportunity she had. Her apprentice, also called Gemma, spends four days a week at the shop in Malton and one day a week at the Askham Bryan Training College in York. 'The business has really benefited from having Gemma around,' Ms. Magson says. According to Mr. Burrows, the apprenticeship scheme