Parents are to be issued with official government guidance telling them at what age their children can start drinking. The step is part of an attempt to change Britain's booze culture.

The advice will include information for parents on sensible alcohol levels for young people and how far they should supervise their children's drinking.

Sir Liam Donaldson, the Chief Medical Officer, is to produce the guidelines in response to mounting alarm at the extent of under-age drinking in public and the extent of binge drinking among the young. It forms part of a package of measures announced today giving police new powers to tackle teenage drinking and urging all pubs and retailers to request ID to ensure that customers are over 18.

Pubs, clubs and retailers caught selling twice to under-age drinkers will face prosecution as the existing “three strikes and you're out” policy is replaced with a “two-strikes” rule.

Ideas such as curbs on alcohol advertising, fixed-penalty notices on parents whose children persistently drink, and prohibiting stores from selling cut-price drink are not part of the proposals.

Ed Balls, the Children, Schools and Families Secretary, said: “Tougher enforcement powers are needed to tackle under-age binge drinking, but enforcement measures alone are not the solution. We need a culture change about drinking with everyone from parents, the alcohol industry and young people all taking more responsibility.”

A new measure will make it an offence for an under-18 persistently to possess alcohol in public, though it is unclear how many times a child would have to be caught before being defined as a “persistent drinker”.

Home Office sources suggested that “persistent” would be defined as two or three times a week but admitted that details had yet to be worked out.

Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, said: “Groups of under-18s drinking in public are an all too familiar sight. This type of drinking increases youth antisocial behaviour and crime, puts young people in vulnerable situations and I want to put a stop to it.”

Opposition politicians and Alcohol Concern criticised the proposals and said that criminalising young people was not the way to tackle under-age drinking.

A Liberal Democrat analysis of hospital admissions shows that, although the number of under-14s admitted to hospital each year because of the toxic effects of alcohol has fallen, the number admitted because of mental and behavioural disorders caused by alcohol rose from 1,657 in 1998-99 to 2,120 in 2006-07.

Michael Gove, the Shadow Children, Schools and Families Secretary, said that new laws alone were not the answer. “The question is now, how can we more precisely calibrate the laws in order to to target offenders?”

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