Britain’s first “millennium volunteers” could be signed up by summer next year under proposals outlined this week by the Department for Education and Employment.
But ministers are not setting targets for the number of 16 to 24-year-olds they expect to join the scheme.
The Government is to invest Pounds 15 million from its windfall levy on the utilities to pump-prime the programme, setting up an arms-length organisation to co-ordinate and accredit projects run by the voluntary sector.