Binge drinking is costing Britain £20 billion per year, a government report has found.

The study conducted by the Downing Street Strategy Unit concluded that while the social costs totalled £4.7 billion per year, lost working days through hangovers cost business an annual £6.4 billion.

Alcohol-related illness and injury costs the NHS £1.7 billion a year - as many as 40 per cent of admissions to accident and emergency units can be alcohol, rising to 70 per cent between midnight and 5.00am.

Speaking to the BBC on Friday, Home Office minister Hazel Blears admitted that a lack of education on the issue was part of the problem.

"I think young people will say to you that we get lots of information about drugs but perhaps we don't get as much information about alcohol as we really need to get," she told Radio 4's Today programme.

"I think education and prevention is going to be a big part of our policies."

Ministers wanted to transform the late-night culture of town centres into something more "civilised", Blears argued.

"We have got to try to get into a culture that the whole of our entertainment isn't just about alcohol.

"It should be about the theatre, about cinema, about bowling - about a range of things."

The report estimates that as many as 40 per cent of men's drinking sessions technically qualify as binge drinking; men drinking more than four pints of beer or eight measures of spirits over a short period of time.

Its findings were welcomed by public health minister Melanie Johnson.

"This report gives a full picture of the effects of alcohol consumption on society, and on the health of individuals," she said.

"While alcohol can have positive effects, the cost to the NHS of 150,000 alcohol-related hospital admissions each year are clear to see. And we also need to recognise the devastating effects, particularly on families, of the 15,000 to 22,000 deaths each year, which can be attributed to alcohol misuse.

"Identifying these problems will ensure that the Department of Health can work with the Strategy Unit and other key stakeholders to develop long-term, effective solutions over the coming months leading up to the publication of the government's Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategy."

The Conservatives have launched a working party to examine the issue of binge drinking.

"The government's decision to investigate alcohol abuse is welcome," said shadow home secretary Oliver Letwin.

"As well as being a drain on our health service, alcohol abuse causes crime and anti-social behaviour.

"The government has been far too complacent about the problem of alcohol abuse - particularly among young people."

The charity Alcohol Concern warned the report highlighted a need for extra government funding to combat the problem.