This would upgrade the quality of the profession without hampering a bounty-hunter's ability to find and return fugitives and without much altering one of the most attractive aspects of the system, that it costs taxpayers nothing.

ECONOMIST: Bounty-hunters

Ward Walkers is a privately-owned firm established in Dundee in 2004 with the specific aim of delivering high-quality work shoes to the nursing profession.

BBC: Dundee shoe firm Ward Walkers secures NHS contract

Mr Hancock said the government was "reforming apprenticeships, introducing traineeships and overhauling the system to recognise only high quality vocational courses that lead directly to a skilled trade or profession".

BBC: Apprenticeships 'should last three years' - report