Shona Robison is set to announce up to £600 million worth of cuts to Scotland’s public services on Tuesday, according to reports.

The Finance Secretary will also tell MSPs that more than £1 billion within the budget will need to be reallocated.

The scale of the black hole - first reported in the Sunday Times - is far greater than expected.

Last week, John Swinney told STV he would need to slash services by at least £250m to balance the books.

Asked if hundreds of millions would have to be cut from other budgets to fund these pay deals, he confirmed: “That’s correct, yes.”

Asked if that could be at least £250m, he said: “Yes”.

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The Scottish Government has already announced a number of efficiencies, including pausing a scheme providing free iPads and laptops to people who are "digitally excluded."

Funding for other projects including flood defences and the expansion of free school meals also looks set to be diverted.

There has already been concern from environmental charitie over plans to reclaim cash set aside for restoring nature.

Meanwhile, there are more calls from high profile figures in the arts about plans to cut funding for Creative Scotland.

Outlander star, Sam Heughan told Scotland on Sunday, it was “imperative” that money was found to reverse the shutdown of Creative Scotland’s open fund.

Alan Cumming described the closure of the fund for artists as “really tragic” and “not a good look.”

He said the impact of the cut was “really alarming” for the future of the Scottish arts scene.

Answering questions from journalists at the conference on Saturday, Mr Swinney said that although money was “very, very tight,” the government would “use the resources available to us as effectively as we possibly can do.“

He said spending would be focused on ending child poverty, strengthening the economy, net zero and improving public services.

Last week, the Scottish Fiscal Commission (SFC) said that the SNP’s own choices were partly to blame for the Scottish Government’s financial difficulties.

Above-expectation public sector pay deals, the council tax freeze and benefit reforms, as well as uncertainty about the level of funding coming from Westminster, have all eaten away at the money available.

On Wednesday, during a visit to Scotland, Chancellor Rachel Reeves claimed the SNP were “as guilty as the Conservative government of spending more than they were bringing in.”

Mr Swinney rejected that criticism.

“The Scottish Government has balanced its budget every year since 2007 a lot of them under my stewardship. So the idea that we've lived beyond our means is baloney,” he said.

During the session, he also appeared to suggest he would not cut the budget set aside for the Scottish Government's independence unit. 

Tory MSP Craig Hoy said it was "disgraceful" that at a time of cuts, the SNP were "hellbent on spending taxpayers’ money on their independence obsession."

In his speech today, Mr Swinney is expected to tell delegates that the Scottish Government will need to work “harder and smarter.”

He will use his conference speech to set his focus on delivering what he sees as the “people’s priorities”: ending child poverty; reaching net-zero; delivering strong public services; and boosting the economy.

However, Mr Swinney will say: “In an era of Westminster cuts, we are going to have to work harder, and smarter, if we are to deliver on our ambitions for Scotland.”

He will promise to, next week, “set out how we can tailor support better to families ensuring they get the help they need, when they need it, to lift those families out of poverty”.

The First Minister will concede that “this support – this whole-family support – will not have the immediate impact of ending the two-child cap”.

But he will state: “It is an example of the sustained, smarter policy-making we are delivering in government.”

He will also promise that “even in the toughest of financial circumstances, the SNP will do everything we can to give every single child the best possible start in life”.

Scottish Labour deputy leader Dame Jackie Baillie said: “John Swinney is right when he says the Scottish Government should serve all those who make Scotland their home but, while NHS waiting lists grow, our school children struggle and he cuts funding to frontline local services, he is failing them.”

She insisted: “After almost two decades of SNP misrule our NHS is on its knees and our public services are at breaking point.

“Quite simply, the SNP’s stewardship is failing Scotland.

“This is a Government that has completely lost its way and we are all paying the price for its incompetence.”