MUCH of the region is in the grip of a childcare crisis, it was claimed yesterday – with new Government rules likely to make it worse.

Eight local authorities have suffered a worrying slump in the number of registered childminders since the start of the decade, according to figures obtained by the Liberal Democrats.

The worst hit was York, which has lost half its childminders, followed by Darlington (down 33.3 per cent), Middlesbrough (down 33.3 per cent), North Yorkshire (down 26.7 per cent) and Stockton (down 25 per cent).

The Lib Dems warned that parents trying to make childcare arrangements for the looming school summer holidays could be in trouble.

And they highlighted how the steepest decline – a loss of nearly 5,000 childminders across England in only 12 months – had followed last year’s launch of the Government’s controversial “nappy curriculum”.

This “Early Year’s Foundation Stage” sets out 69 goals for five-year-olds – including an ability to write simple words, write their own name and begin to form simple sentences, sometimes using punctuation.

The National Childminding Association has raised fears that its members are quitting, because they are expected to record children’s progress through the goals and can be inspected by the watchdog, Ofsted.

And, to add to the problem, Britain is experiencing a baby boom. The increase in births between 2004 and last year was, for example, 6.6 per cent in Darlington, according to the Lib Dems.

Annette Brooke, the party’s children’s spokeswoman, said: “As we approach the summer holidays, we are well on the way to seeing a childcare crunch.

“It is going to be a real struggle for hard-pressed parents to find good, affordable childcare. Government meddling – particularly the introduction of the bureaucratic so-called ‘nappy curriculum’ – is putting people off being childminders.” But Children’s Minister Dawn Primarolo insisted it was “nonsense” to suggest that the new demands on childminders were driving some out of the profession.

She said: “It does not prescribe teaching methods for young children, nor prescribe any kind of testing whatsoever. It simply sets a series of goals so that parents, and nursery staff, know whether a child is developing properly.”

However, Ms Primarolo, while denying a significant fall in the number of childcare places available, admitted: “We know there may be variations at local level.”

The statistics, obtained from Ofsted, show that no local authority in the North-East or North Yorkshire enjoyed an increase in childminders between 2001 and this year.

The numbers – rounded to the nearest 100 – were static in Gateshead, Hartlepool, Redcar and Cleveland and South Tyneside.

Across England, the total number of childminders fell from 111,500 in 2001, to 95,900 this year – a decline of 14 per cent.