A new six-month programme has been launched as part of the Transforming a Generation (TAG) scheme to create more than 1,000 new jobs within the health and fitness sector for unemployed young people.

The programme, which was launched at Broadwater Farm in Haringey, London, is funded by the Department for Work and Pensions' Future Jobs Fund and is set to be rolled out at nearly 30 TAG Centres in local communities throughout the country. TAG aims to help young people to break what it calls the "lack-of-experience-so-can't-get-a-job-so-can't-get-experience" cycle by offering the chance to obtain a Level 2 Health and Fitness Instructor qualification, as well as receiving a four-month paid work placement.

The new programme will include a 12-month Personal Development Plan and a dedicated mentor for each student, as well as providing modules on exercise, nutrition and fitness and a focus on workplace behaviour. TAG, which was set up in 2008 by Fitness Industry Association (FIA) chair Fred Turok, has been backed by a number of major health club operators, the National Skills Academy and the industry's sector skills council, SkillsActive.

Turok said: "As a nation, we are failing our young people because we're trying to solve profound and debilitating contemporary social and economic issues with an outdated and broken mode. "A partnership solution is the only way we can break a cycle which robs our society of access to young people who are rich in talent but poor in opportunities. The real bonus is that the TAG model can be extended to any service industry - just think of the benefits to young people who are currently being excluded and to employers who are desperate for motivated and talented employees."

Higher education minister David Lammy added: "In communities such as Haringey, it is vital that young people are noticed, given opportunities and are put on a path to a great career in health and fitness where they can see the many possibilities for their futures."