A joint health and social care white paper will be published later this year to take forward the vision outlined in the adult green paper, the government has announced, writes Simeon Brody.

Care services minister Liam Byrne said social care reform would be included in the forthcoming white paper on out-of-hospital care as part of a "new alliance between health and local government".

He said that parts of the social care agenda would require legislation but these would be "teased out" during the development of the white paper and during reflection on responses to the green paper consultation.

But other aspects of the green paper agenda would be delivered in parallel to the white paper, Byrne told an adult green paper conference in London last week.

Pilots to test individual budgets, a joint workforce review with the Department for Education and Skills, and a task force to tackle the barriers to greater commissioning from the voluntary sector will be set up by the end of the year.

The joint approach was welcomed by the Association of Directors of Social Services.

ADSS president Tony Hunter said: "If we are positive and ambitious, which we should be, it's an excellent way forward because it joins together at national level an agenda that we need to join together at local level."

But others fear the social care agenda could be subsumed by health. Mona Sehgal, programme manager for the Local Government Association's community well-being team, said that while a single white paper would provide opportunities to bring health into the well-being agenda, "this will only be realised if out-of-hospital care is embedded into the well-being agenda and not vice versa".

British Association of Social Workers director Ian Johnston said he had "mixed feelings" about the joint approach.

He said: "On the one hand people with complex requirements deserve better co-ordinated services. But a significant proportion of health professionals do not share our commitment to self-determination."