A Liberal Democrat government would allow local authorities to commission health care as well as social care.

The party's health spokesperson, Paul Burstow, said before legislation was introduced, there would be voluntary pilots of local authority-led commissioning.

"Decisions about the what, where, who, how and why of commissioning should be made locally. Those who make the decisions should be answerable locally for their decisions," he said.

He added that local authority commissioners should also be able to use health resources to develop social services.

Burstow used his speech to criticise the draft mental health bill, saying it was wrong to include such a range of people and such a wide definition of treatment. "It still feels like a Home Office bill masquerading as a health bill," he said.

He described the Children Bill as a bill "with a good purpose" but said that, unless it built links between registered social landlords and children's services, it would be a missed opportunity.