Child drug abuse: A quarter of under 16s have taken illegal substances

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By the age of 15 more than 40 per cent of the nation's 15-year-olds are likely to have tried drugs.

The statistics from the Government's NHS Information Centre provide a shocking insight into Britain's drink and drug culture.

More than half of 11 to 15-year-olds have tried alcohol and a quarter have taken drugs, according to the NHS

More than half of the children questioned had drunk alcohol, and 17 per cent of them had done so in the previous week, including 3 per cent of 11-year-olds.

With 3.1million 11 to 15-year-olds in England, the statistics suggest that around 640,000 were likely to have drunk alcohol in the past seven days and 300,000 were likely to have taken drugs.

Shockingly, 6 per cent of 11-yearolds had taken drugs in the past year, and 3 per cent in the past month.

Drug taking has, however, fallen in the six years to 2007 - the number of youngsters who admitted used illegal substances in the previous week dropped by 2 per cent.

The proportion who smoke regularly was at its lowest in 25 years.

But by the age of 15 a massive 88 per cent of pupils will have drunk alcohol, tried drugs or smoked.

Last night MPs said the figures for drug taking were still 'shocking'.

Liberal Democrat health spokesman Norman Lamb said: 'While the fall in children experimenting with drugs is welcome, the percentage of children trying drugs is still shockingly high.

A Department of Health spokesman said £30 million had been spent on drugs advice service Frank in the past five years.

The Information Centre surveyed 7,831 pupils from 273 schools in England in the autumn term of 2007.