A constituent of mine, who was successfully helped back into work by the new deal for lone parents, found herself within 3p of losing her carer's allowance when the minimum wage went up in October. What work is the Department doing to synchronise minimum wage rises with the earnings threshold for carer's allowance?

Yvette Cooper (Secretary of State, Department for Work and Pensions; Pontefract & Castleford, Labour)

My hon. Friend makes an important point, and we are looking at what more can be done to help carers who are often very keen to work, even if they are able to do so for only a limited number of hours, so that they can combine such work with their caring responsibilities. That is one of the issues that we have looked at as part of the back to work White Paper-how we do more to support carers and parents who need more flexible work. I am happy to talk further to my hon. Friend about that issue and the concerns of her constituent.