Government announces 6m teen volunteering pilot

The pilots will take place in Brighton and Hove, Kent, Lincolnshire, Salford and the City of York, and will look to create up to 50 hours of community activity aimed at 14- to 16-year-olds.

The pilot will run for two years and if successful will be rolled out nationwide.

A focus of the projects will be "to close the generation gap", according to a statement by the Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Children's Secretary Ed Balls.

Also announced by the government are plans to publish a guide for teachers and youth workers to promote sporting activities outside of school. An online guide to local sports activities aimed at young people will also be developed.

This latest announcement coincides with the release of a government report looking at the first three years of the Aiming High strategy, the government's 10-year strategy to improve services for young people.

Among policies implemented in the first three years has been £270m of funding through the Myplace initiative to improve and build youth centres.

This latest community volunteering pilot closely mirrors the Conservative's flagship youth policy the National Citizen Service, which was first put forward in 2007.

Last April, social reform organisation the Shaftesbury Partnership launched a project that resembles this model in which Year 11 pupils in London took part in challenges to improve their leadership and communication skills.

Faiza Chaudary, director of policy and communications at the National Council for Voluntary Youth Services, welcomed the Aiming High initiative, but added: "There is still a long way to go if we are to deliver the vision of world-class services for young people."