Scottish local authorities and services will have over £240m available to them next near, according to Holyrood’s draft budget - but council chiefs refuse to endorse the reduction to the core local government settlement.

Scotland’s finance secretary Derek Mackay yesterday outlined the 2017-18 local government settlement which, he said, ‘invests in education, invests in social care and invests in local services.’

Mr MacKay said £111m of additional council tax revenues expected to be raised from reform of the upper bands will be available to be spent locally.

Councils will also have the freedom to increase the council tax for all band homes by up to 3% - a measure that could raise an extra £70m.

The announcement also revealed £107m will also be moved from the NHS to councils to support social care services and pay the living wage for social care workers.

In total, this package will provide local government and local service with up to £240.6m in additional funding and revenue.

Mr MacKay also said Holyrood will use its own resources to fund £120m going to schools to close the attainment gap.

He described the budget as a ‘strong settlement for local government’ and said it meant this year there would not be an overall reduction in funding for local services.

‘This is a settlement which invests in education, invests in social care and invests in local services,’ he said.

Commenting on the budget statement, COSLA president Cllr David O’Neill said: ‘COSLA can never endorse a reduction to the core local government settlement as announced as part of the budget statement today.

‘It is our understanding that the Scottish government had significant additional cash for 2017/18 and therefore this decision will impact on services delivered by local government.

‘We fully recognise that the Scottish government has made efforts to improve the settlement through their offer of a wider package including a major change on the council tax proposals.

‘COSLA had lobbied the Scottish government on their previous proposal and we are pleased that the Scottish government has acknowledged this.

‘Councils will now consider the whole package as part of their budget considerations and COSLA remains committed to working with Scottish government across the range of common interests including public service reform.’