Health minister John Hutton has conceded that local councils can nominate their representatives on care trust boards, after local government organisations last week threatened outright opposition to the trusts being established.

The move followed a week of tension and brinkmanship in which the Local Government Association first demanded that care trusts be removed from the Health and Social Care Bill.

The local government side had been seeking assurances from health officials that local authorities should be able to nominate their own representatives to care trusts and that these should be accountable back to the authority, but were frustrated at their lack of success.

Backed by organisations including the Association of Directors of Social Services, Unison, Age Concern, Help the Aged and the Carers' National Association, the LGA declared its opposition to 'care trust quangos'.

But in a subsequent letter to LGA chair Sir Jeremy Beecham, Mr Hutton said: 'I see no difficulty. . . in agreeing that local authorities nominate as many members as there are agreed places on the care trust board. '