Ministers have pledged to introduce new ways of recording and dealing with Scotland's young offenders after the numbers caught regularly engaging in criminal behaviour reached a record high.

New figures reveal there were 1429 persistent young offenders recorded last year, a figure which has increased significantly year on year since ministers pledged to cut the numbers by 10% in 2002.

As the figures were released, Fergus Ewing, Minister for Community Safety, announced plans to scrap the previous executive's target. Instead of simply recording the numbers caught offending, future figures are expected to include data about the needs of the children involved and the types of criminal behaviour in which they have been involved.

Of those caught for committing five or more offences in a six-month period, 1194 were boys and 235 girls.

The biggest increases in those found offending repeatedly were in Fife, Moray and Midlothian. Glasgow recorded 282 persistent young offenders last year compared to 219 in 2003.

Mr Ewing said: "The vast majority of our young people are not offenders. However, we can't let the small minority run riot on the streets and give everyone a bad name.

"I have looked at the persistent young offender target and I don't think it addresses the issues or captures the right information. It makes no distinction between minor offences and more serious ones. That's why I'm going to bring in a new system to give a much more rounded picture.

The number of children referred to the reporter on offence grounds decreased by almost 1000 last year, thought to be because of an agreement between police and social work to deal with young people themselves unless they need to be referred for "compulsory measures".

The figures also show the serious offending of a number of children has not been addressed. Around 14% of the persistent young offenders in 2004 were in the same category in 2005 and 2006.

Sandra Paterson, deputy convener of the Association of Directors of Social Work's Children and Families Standing Committee, said: "The impact of the target has been that it lumps together young people who have committed very minor offences with those who have carried out serious offences resulting in a disproportionate use of resources.

"In addition, there is evidence to show that if you intervene too heavily and too early in response to lower levels of offending, it can lead to increased offending in the long run."

Central Police Assistant Chief Constable Maureen Brown, spokeswoman for the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland on youth issues, said: "Acpos welcomes this review. While it is important to have a focus on persistent offenders, prevention and detection are equally important, as are early intervention and diversion programmes. We recognise it is still a minority of young people who actually offend."

Margaret Cox, principal reporter for the SCRA said: "The Scottish Children's Reporter Administration is supportive of this new approach and will work with our partners in the Children's Hearings System to develop and implement the system."