A leading charity has attacked the level of services aimed at helping people beat alcohol problems.

Although people in the North of England are the country's heaviest drinkers, the majority of services for alcohol dependency treatment are in the South East, Alcohol Concern warned.

It found that a disproportionate number of the country's 507 alcohol counselling and treatment services - 28.5 per cent - are in London and the south-east.

In its annual state of the nation survey, the charity also warned that up to one in four children of school age is now regularly drinking alcohol.

Researchers concluded that one person in 13 is now dependent on alcohol - twice as many as those hooked on all other drugs.

The survey forms part of Alcohol Concern's contribution to the government's recently announced consultation on a new national alcohol harm reduction strategy.

Its chief executive, Eric Appleby, said successive governments had tried to deal with the symptoms of alcohol misuse rather than the root causes.

He called for more emphasis on issues such as prevention and education.

"At a local level alcohol services often don't know where next year's funding is coming from. Only when we have an effective strategy in place will issues such as this be properly addressed," he said.

The Department of Health reacted positively to the report.

"This useful report will provide an extra opportunity to focus on how alcohol misuse is handled by people who work on the front line in alcohol treatment services and to tap into their expertise in developing credible and effective solutions," said a spokesman.