'Rite of passage' for teenagers

The first 10,000 places for 16-year-olds will be available on pilot schemes next year with a further 30,000 places in 2012, Mr Maude told the Conservative Party Conference.

The National Citizen Service is key part of Prime Minister David Cameron's Big Society agenda.

Mr Maude told the conference: "We are often bound together as a nation by experiences that we share. The agony of the World Cup every four

years, cheering our athletes to victory at the Olympics, supporting our troops to name just a few.

"The National Citizen Service will be a rite of passage to adulthood for young people – ultimately, we hope, for all of them.

"It will be a common experience for 16-year-olds, mixing people from all backgrounds in a robust programme of outdoor challenge and constructive social action."

He added: "No one expects this to be an overnight transformation. But you have to start somewhere. Over the years and the decades ahead this

programme will gradually help to build a bigger, stronger society, more cohesive, citizens with a stronger engagement with their communities, with a deep sense of social responsibility."