An Opposition amendment opposing a second reading for the Health Bill, setting up Primary Care Trusts, was defeated by 368 votes to 127.

Health Secretary Frank Dobson said: "We promised to stop the rot in the NHS and we have. But it's not enough just to save the NHS. We are reversing the decline and making sure its prospects are bright."

But Tory former Health Secretary Kenneth Clarke said the Bill would do "very considerable harm". It was "bureaucratic in the extreme" and would stifle initiatives by "go ahead" family doctors.

No local authorities in England will have their spending capped this year the government has announced.

But the Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott warned he would monitor the finances of 12 local authorities which set the largest budgets and council tax rises for 1999-2000 to ensure they "act more responsibly".

Mr Prescott said: "For the first time since the introduction of the council tax, authorities were not told what to do by the government. Average Band D taxes rose by 6.8% this year, compared with 8.6% rises last year."

The monitored authorities, which will be reviewed over two years, are: Ashfield, Herefordshire, Huntingdonshire, Kingston upon Thames, Milton Keynes, Norfolk, Shropshire, South Cambridgeshire, Tewkesbury, Torbay, Tyne and Wear Fire and Civil Defence Authority, and Woking.

Public get say in Lords reform

A series of meetings to enable the public to make their views heard on the reform of the House of Lords has been announced by the government.

The nationwide meetings will begin and close in London on 12 May and 27 July.

The head of the Royal Commission looking into the revamping the upper chamber, former Conservative Cabinet Minister Lord Wakeham, said: "We are determined to get as wide a range of views and ideas on the reform of the House of Lords as possible."

Sessions are scheduled for Exeter on 26 May; Peterborough on 27 May; Belfast on 3 June; Newcastle on 9 June; Manchester on 22 June; Birmingham on 24 June; Edinburgh on 30 June; and Cardiff on 8 July.

Probation reform unveiled

The government is expected to announce proposals to reform the probation service under its changes to make community sentences tougher.

This is intended to ensure greater uniformity of sentences by implementing a national service to centralise the existing network of local centres.

Proposals put forward last year had included renaming the service, but it is thought this step will not be taken.

It was strongly opposed by probation officers, who branded it "cosmetic".

New wildlife law urged

Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott is to be presented with a copy of a report titled 50 Years of Extinction as part of a drive to try to persuade the government of the case for new wildlife laws.

The Labour manifesto promised "greater protection to wildlife" and campaigners are seeking to get Mr Prescott to focus on implementing that pledge.

Campaigners have noted many instances of degradation of Britain's countryside, even in areas marked as of special scientific interest.