Red tape and bureaucratic bungling have caused a childcare crunch in the Bristol area which will hit parents hard this summer.

The number of registered childminders in the region has plunged by as much as 25 per cent, with 400 lost across five local authority areas.

The problem is worst in Bath & North East Somerset where numbers have fallen by a quarter in eight years, according to figures obtained by the Liberal Democrats.

The party blames the Government's "nappy curriculum".

Bristol was down 22 per cent and North Somerset recorded a 20 per cent fall but the numbers in South Gloucestershire were unchanged.

The Lib Dems seized on the figures to warn 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 almost 5,000 childminders across England in just 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.

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.

Annette Brooke, the Lib Dem 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 struggle for 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 Bristol South MP Dawn Primarolo, the children's minister, insisted it was "nonsense" to suggest that the new demands on childminders were driving some out of the profession.

"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," she said.

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."

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