The Scottish Parliament has agreed to top up its funding to councils to deal with the coronavirus crisis.

Almost £258m additional funding has been approved, while a further £72m is currently under discussion with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA). This will bring the total COVID-19 funding for Scottish councils to almost £330m.

Public finance minister Ben Macpherson said: ‘We have taken exceptional measures in every area of government as we deal with the challenges of COVID-19 - and that is particularly clear in our support for local services.

‘To date, Scotland’s councils have received £405m in advanced payments this financial year, and by the end of July this will have risen to £455m.

‘The Scottish Government has also relaxed current guidance on some of the education grants to allow additional resource to be diverted to the COVID-19 response.’

‘We will continue to work with COSLA and local authorities, as well as pressing the UK Government for urgent additional funding and flexibility for our partners in local government.’