Kent County Council says it is not among the councils who have sought expert financial help over money it has locked into Icelandic banks.

Financial experts have been sent into three councils facing short-term problems owing to their share of the £858.3m tied up in Icelandic banks.

A further 10 are in touch with the government's special "rapid response unit" to help them gauge the extent of their difficulties, according to local government minister John Healey.

But County Hall finance chiefs have confirmed they are not among those to have asked for any help.

The development comes ahead of a full council meeting at County Hall today, where opposition parties are expected to renew their questioning of the Conservative administration over its handling of the crisis.

Labour and the Liberal Democrats will call for heads to roll over the decision which has placed £50million of taxpayers’ money at risk.

Meanwhile, the council says it is now more optimistic about recovering at least some of the money from one of the three banks had improved.

It follows a statement from the Local Government Association – the body that represents town halls – and accountants Ernst and Young that indicates that the value of the assets of the Heritable Bank, which has gone into administration, is broadly in line with its liabilities.

Cllr Nick Chard (con), KCC’s cabinet member for finance, said: “If Heritable has assets equal to its liabilities, then there is an extremely good chance we will get some of it back.”

KCC has about £18million on deposit with Heritable.