TTB
The Macclesfield pilot did his conversion "a few years back" (ref. Float Test's post) so he may not be part of that pattern. But the Harrogate accident certainly was.
Think the points being raised with regard to ensuring quality in training are bang on-the-money but it's hard to see where change is going to come from if not from training providers and their customers. The general problems with the UK training market are well-known: poor conditions of employment, high turnover, poor prospects for development as instructors for most involved. If that doesn't change, we can't really expect anything other than patchy quality. Few companies have anything like the resources, experience and philosophy needed to deliver a consistently good training product.
TT