A TOP level government review has been launched to decide whether all people with known drinking problems should be banned from becoming childminders.

A government minister yesterday promised the family of tragic 19-month-old toddler Joshua Massey Hodgkinson that serious action will be taken to ensure the circumstances which led to his death can never be repeated.

Children's Minister Beverley Hughes met Joshua's mother, Emma Massey, and his grandmother Cathy Massey, at Westminster yesterday to reveal what action was being taken following the publication of a report into his death.

Joshua died in April, 2004, when he drowned in the bath of drunken childminder Wendy Barlow, of Sabden.

When sentenced for his manslaughter in February, it emerged that Barlow had admitted being prone to binge-drinking when she applied to become a childminder, but regulators Ofsted failed to ask any more questions about that.

That revelation prompted the launch of the Justice for Joshua campaign, backed by the Lancashire Evening Telegraph, which called for tighter regulations and better training for childminders, and easier access to information for parents about childminders.

An independent inquiry into Joshua's death, published in August, said Joshua's death could have been prevented had Ofsted acted on doctors' concerns about Barlow's drinking. At the meeting with Joshua's parents yesterday, Mrs Hughes revealed:

l Plans were being drawn up for all childminders to have an NVQ qualification by 2015

l A high level panel had been established to look at whether any childminder applicant with a history of drinking should automatically be barred from registration

l A new protocol for Ofsted inspectors, which aims to get them asking more questions about drinking, has been launched and named after Joshua.

After the meeting Emma Massey said: "We hope this means Joshua's death won't have been in vain.

"Ministers have promised on several occasions that they would act to make sure it couldn't happen again and I think we are closer to that now.

"What I would like the review panel to decide is that anyone with a history of drinking to excess should be barred from childminding for life."

Cathy Massey added: "I think this meeting was very constructive. We will keep pushing to make sure they deliver on their promises.

"The Justice for Joshua campaign seems to be working and that appears to be a step in the right direction."

A spokesman for the Department For Education and Skills said: "The recommendations from the report into Joshua's death are being taken very seriously, it was an absolute tragedy."

Both the NSPCC and the National Childminders Association have backed the Justice for Joshua Campaign.