It shows the number of 16 to 24-year-olds who visited hospitals in the region because of problems with alcohol rose by a massive 32% in just five years.

Ms Robison said it confirmed her fears that binge drinking was a serious issue in Tayside, and she is seeking an urgent meeting with health chiefs to consider solutions.

The statistics follow recent Scottish Executive figures showing that the number of young people under 16 seeking hospital treatment for drink problems in Tayside had fallen.

But in his letter to Ms Robison, NHS Tayside director of public health Dr Drew Walker said there was no discernable trend in that age range, although he conceded the figures showed that harmful drinking among children in Tayside was a “significant health issue”.

“In Tayside as a whole, between 1997/98 and 2002/03, the number of discharges in the 0-15 age group fluctuated between 48 and 80 with no discernable trend,” he said.

“In the 16-24 age group, the numbers rose from 195 to 258 over the same period. In this case, there does appear to be a gradual upwards trend.”

Dr Walker went on to say that self-reported admissions from children about their alcohol use revealed that almost half of all 13 to 15-year-olds drank to excess.

“Figures relating to Tayside in 2002 found that 18% had been drunk once, 21% had been drunk two to three times, 14% had been drunk 4-10 times and 14% had been drunk more than 10 times,” he said.

“When asked at what age they first got drunk, the average was reported as 13 years old.

“Forty-nine percent of all 13 and 15-year-old pupils who had ever had a proper alcoholic drink reported that they had consumed five or more drinks on the same occasion in the past 30 days.

“I should emphasis that these figures are based on self-reported behaviour by schoolchildren, and may therefore be an over-or-under estimate of the true position.

“It is clear from these figures that harmful drinking in children and young people is a significant health issue in Tayside.”

Ms Robison, who is SNP health spokesperson, said the time had come to sit down with the health service to consider how to reverse the “shocking” trend.

“There is real evidence here that in the 16 to 24 year-old age group at least, there is a gradual upwards trend,” she said.

“That confirms to me from the man himself (Dr Walker) that harmful drinking is a problem, therefore it is something that we need to take very seriously indeed.

“I will now try to meet with Drew Walker and see what they are doing and what needs to be done — clearly it is a concern.”

Turning to the conflict between the Executive and NHS Tayside statistics, she added, “I would like to know how they (Scottish Executive) came to that conclusion and how they made that analysis, and I will asking them about it.”