Scotland's councils have been told to work on containing council tax rises over the next three years.

The challenge came as Finance Minister Andy Kerr set out the details of government support for local authorities.

The 32 local councils in Scotland have found out how much money each will receive from the Scottish Executive.

The councils will share a total of �7.33bn in the financial year 2003-04.

The following year it will rise to �7.69bn, and the year after that it will top �8bn.

Council are being told to keep increases down

Mr Kerr told MSPs: "I met council leaders on the day of the Scottish budget announcement and told them this was a challenging but reasonable settlement.

"The executive recognises the pressures facing local government. This government also has to balance many different and competing priorities.

"But let's be honest - the public doesn't want to hear us complaining about pressures, it wants to hear what we are doing to make their lives better, to improve services, and to invest in the future."

Opposition parties raised concerns that the settlement could only mean increased council tax or cuts to services.

The Scottish National Party's local government spokesperson Tricia Marwick said: "According to Cosla, following last year's settlement the funding gap impacted upon the provision of services for children, special educational needs and social work services."

Tax plans

Included in the deal is some �180m already earmarked by the executive for quality-of-life improvements, like cleaning up graffiti and combating dog fouling.

Ministers insist that the deal should mean that council tax increases should be no more than previously announced figures.

Councils will announce their budgets and local tax plans in February - but say that years of spending restraint mean they will still face pressure.

Meanwhile the Scottish business rate level will be frozen next year at 47.8p.

Small business will get relief of up to 50% but larger firms will pay a supplement of 0.6p in the pound.