Chancellor Philip Hammond has announced a string of spending plans as he signalled the period of austerity was nearing an end.

He outlined plans that included boosts for schools, councils and the NHS and come after successive years in which the public sector has endured far-reaching cuts in grants.

The speech was notable for repeated references to austerity coming to an end.

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He said councils with social care responsibilities - such as Kent County Council - would share a further £650 million on top of an already-announced £240m to help deal with "immediate pressures" in 2019-20.

He also pledged £400m to schools as an "in-year bonus".

The money averages £10,000 per primary school and £50,000 per secondary school.

The money would help the schools "buy the little extras they need," he told the Commons.

He also confirmed that £420m will be made available to councils "to tackle potholes, bridge repairs, and other minor works in this financial year".

There was also a commitment to abolish Private Finance Initiatives but those already in place would stay.

On plans to prepare for a no-deal Brexit, he said the government would increase contingency funds from £1.5bn to £2bn but did not elaborate on where the money would be spent.

The announcements may go some way to heading off criticisms levelled at the government over the spending squeeze.

On universal credit, Hammond said it was “here to stay” and is a necessary reform but he recognised genuine concerns of MPs about implementation.

He revealed there would be £1bn over five years to aid transition to Universal Credit and existing protections.

“Under this government, austerity is coming to an end but discipline will remain.

"We are at a turning point in our history and we must resolve to move forwards not backwards.”

There was also confirmation that fuel duty had been frozen, as was widely predicted.

Howard Cox, founder of the FairFuelUK Campaign, said: "Sadly and true to form, despite the continuing and welcome hold in fuel duty, this Government still does not get it, when it comes to our motoring nation.

"No necessary cut in duty to stimulate the economy, utter silence on those greedy unchecked oil companies continuing to fleece hard pressed motorists at will, and no incentives to move to practical low emissions solutions to improve our air quality.

"And if Brexit collapses is there the spectre of crippling tax hikes at the pumps to come.

"A hollow Budget, from and out of touch Chancellor who’s clueless to what to do with UK roads, public transport and our freedom of mobility."

South Thanet MP Craig Mackinlay welcomed the decision to scrap business rates on public toilets.

He said: “I have always been opposed to the notion that public conveniences should be liable to business rates and had lobbied the former Chancellor so was delighted that it made its way that far.

“In the case of conveniences in Wingham in my constituency, business rates cost the council in excess of £2,000 per year to support a non-revenue earning public service.”

Jay Boyce, partner at MHA MacIntyre Hudson, said the effectiveness of measures designed to help SMEs and high street retailers was hard to predict, and the Chancellor ought to have approached the digital sales tax differently.

"The increase in the annual investment allowance (AIA) is excellent news for SMEs and will encourage investment in new plant and machinery," she said.

"However, as the increase doesn’t take effect until 1 January 2019, companies may want to defer expenditure until after this date if they’re spending in excess of £250,000.

"We’ve yet to see the detail on the reform of entrepreneurs' relief, but one likely outcome is an acceleration of business disposals in the coming months, particularly for those businesses that have incentivised senior staff with enterprise management incentive (EMI) options on the basis that the qualifying period is only 12 months.

"The digital services tax of 2% is another laudable step, but it may have been a better idea to restrict the use of brought forward losses instead.

"Many of the technology companies Philip Hammond is targeting have significant tax allowable losses and by restricting their use he could increase tax payable in the U.K.

"Independent retail outlets can also take heart because of the announcement of business rate relief.

"However, given the challenges major landlords operating in the retail sector face, rate relief may not be enough to help them, especially if they are employing significant numbers of employees.”