My question is for the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection. Although it was promised that the waiting list for carer's allowance would be reduced, people must currently wait for more than three months for a decision. This is a disgrace. All that people who take care of elderly people or people who are ill and who keep people at home want is their allowance to be paid. Could something be done to increase the number of staff? While I appreciate the work being done by the staff already there, it is a disgrace to keep people waiting for up to three months to be awarded carer's allowance or even to receive an answer.

It is a disgrace that family members must take decisions about leaving employment and working without pay. They submit applications but the waiting time remains 16 weeks, having fallen from 19 weeks, according to the most recent response I have received from the Minister. It is utterly unacceptable. In one case, the information submitted by the doctors clearly states the person needs full-time care, which the family members are providing. Is there anything the Minister can do to ensure that the waiting time from the date of application to the date of the request being granted will be reasonable?

The average waiting time until the end of last year was 19 weeks, which is wholly unacceptable, but it is currently 15 weeks. Although that does not meet the 12-week target we have set in the Department, it is moving in the right direction, for two reasons. The first is we have changed the application form to try to make it less onerous and to allow us gather more information. There are two aspects to a carer's allowance application, namely, the means test and the medical assessment.

The second reason is we have added more staff to the area. As other staff become available, such as those working on our illness benefit transition and the 2012 pension anomaly restorations, they will be moved to address the issue. I hope that will continue to reduce the waiting time to the 12-week target.