Unfortunately there is no need to attend any type of training or beginners course to keep bees, so whilst the recent publicity around the plight of bees has led to an upsurge in interest in beekeeping, it has also put pressure upon those running classes and hightened the demand for colonies.
I attended the EMBa beginners course in 2009 and luckily got a nuc that year, as documented in other posts I had a disaster this year but am now the happy owner of bees once more, however with 4 years experience I most certainly consider myself still to be a beginner, and only felt able to sit the basic beemaster this year.
Knowing what I know now (and as a beginner that isn't a massive amount) there is no way anyone should contemplate keeping bees without having taken part in some form of formal training - it is not fair on other beekeepers (bringing and potential spreading of disease), it is not fair on the bees, and could even negatively impact public perception of bees/beekeepers
i don't know how this can be remedied, short of some bureaucratic licencing system which I don't know if I support

Steven