Community by community you are engaged directly. You know the terrain

Tony Blair

In a speech to the Christian Socialist Movement's conference on "Faith in Politics", Mr Blair insisted that volunteers would not replace government but rather work alongside it.

Faith groups were often the driving force behind community projects and were often best placed to answer the needs of people on the ground, he said.

"Community by community you are engaged directly. You know the terrain.

"You have committed volunteers and often an infrastructure invaluable for delivering projects speedily and effectively."

The prime minister said that where there was a desire by religious groups to play a greater role in their communities the government was keen to support them.

'Partners not substitutes'

"But again I emphasise, we want you as partners, not substitutes," he said.

The Experience Corps is to operate through an independent company chaired by Age Concern's Sally Greengross.

Its brief will include creating and filling new volunteering opportunities for the over-50s across the country.

Mr Blair also gave his personal backing to a new organisation to replace the inter-faith Lambeth group which was set up to prepare for the millennium.

Its job will be to scrutinise the way government consults with the faith communities where there are areas of "shared interests".

'Faith vote'

Mr Blair's speech, coming ahead of an expected general election, will be taken by some as an attempt to woo the faith vote - although the prime minister was at pains to reject such a suggestion even before it had been made.

In November last year, Conservative leader William Hague indicated that he wanted to "de-nationalise compassion" by allowing voluntary groups take greater responsibility for areas typically covered by the state.