Health and Social Care Bill survives final vote

The government's much-debated Health and Social Care Bill looks set to become law after final amendments to the NHS reform legislation were approved by ministers.

MPs voted against a motion by shadow health secretary Andy Burnham to delay the reforms unless the government agreed to make its risk register for the bill public, meaning it is now set to receive royal assent before Easter.

The bill, which has been debated for more than a year, will give more control to GPs over commissioning services, reduce the number of health bodies and introduce more competition in certain areas.

However, it has been widely condemned by many health sector organisations for being overly complex and exposing the NHS to the influence of market forces.

Mr Burnham has already pledged that any future Labour government would repeal the legislation at the earliest juncture, with health secretary Andrew Lansley dismissing the opposition to the bill as "political opportunism".

Meanwhile, NHS Confederation chief executive Mike Farrar said: "NHS leaders now have to make sense of the hand they have been dealt. Let there be no doubt that this will be among the toughest projects the NHS has ever taken on."