The Finance Secretary has announced extra cash for colleges and housing as Holyrood passed the Scottish Government's Budget by a vote of 70 to 52.

John Swinney also revealed there would be further cash for transport and to help provide world-class broadband services across the country.

He told MSPs at Holyrood that in preparing its spending plans for 2012-13 the SNP had "acted decisively in the interest of our economy, our public services and the people of Scotland".

Mr Swinney pledged an extra £11.4m for student support, together with a further £8m to the Scottish Funding Council to go to colleges in the coming year.

He said that, combined with £20m of new investment already announced for colleges, showed the Government's commitment to the sector.

Mr Swinney said: "That is £40m of addition investment which should leave no one in a shadow of doubt about the strength of this administration's commitment to our colleges and to Scotland's students."

The Finance Secretary also revealed housing would get an extra £97m over four years, including £10m of already-announced cash for council house building and an extra £45m over the period 2012-13 to 2014-15 for affordable housing.

In addition to this, £42m will fund loans and equity investment over the spending review period, with some being used to fund the expansion of shared equity schemes.

Broadband

Other "key areas" set for "substantial" additional funding are digital infrastructure, particularly the nation's broadband network, and transport.

Mr Swinney said about £68m, spread over the next three years, will "support our commitment to delivering world-class, future-proofed infrastructure that will deliver digital connectivity across the whole of Scotland by 2020".

The cash will be split to help ensure improved digital services across all of Scotland, with £28m going to the rural affairs portfolio, while £40m will go to local government.

The roads network will get £72m over the next three years, with this going towards "key projects" to improve reliability and safety such as the A75 Dunragit bypass, the A737 Dalry bypass and design works for dualling the A9.

Additionally, £13m will go to funding "active travel", focusing on cycling and walking infrastructure.

The Scottish Prison Service will get £20m in 2014-15 to help with the "modernisation" of the prison estate, while £5m of capital spending will go on culture over the period 2012-13 to 2014-15.

The budget also includes £60m for health boards across the country and £54m for local government.

Mr Swinney said: "Together these announcements represent additional capital investment of around £380m over three years, supporting infrastructure development and jobs the length and breadth of Scotland."

The Finance Secretary also confirmed he was pressing ahead with plans to bring in a public health supplement which will impose a charge on large retailers who sell both alcohol and tobacco.

The plan has been criticised by some in business but Mr Swinney said the amount individual retailers would pay will be cut and a limit placed on the time in which the supplement would apply.

'Building economic confidence'

The Scottish Government will receive an extra £450m over the next three years as a result of spending decisions taken at Westminster.

Mr Swinney said he will hold some of that cash "in reserve", telling MSPs: "In deploying the additional resources available to me, I must also take account of the risks posed by the current economic climate and some of the dangerous policies being advanced by the UK Government, not least on welfare reform.

"I will therefore hold in reserve some revenue consequentials, around £20m in 2012-13, until the picture becomes clearer."

He told MSPs that his Budget "underpins the approach this Government is taking to accelerate economic recovery, support economic growth and improve public services in Scotland".

The Finance Secretary said: "In doing so, we are tackling head-on the challenges presented by the global economic climate, particularly in the eurozone, and by the course the UK Government is taking on public spending."

He said he has "listened carefully" to what opposition politicians and others have been calling for and is "committed to building consensus for the measures in this Budget".

However, he also stressed the Scottish Government had to "deal with a landscape that has seen the UK Government make severe cuts in Scotland's Budget, including the removal of £6.7bn in real terms from the capital budget the four years of this spending review period".

Despite this, Mr Swinney said: "The Scottish Government has delivered a budget for growth."

He said capital investment is "central" to the SNP administration's approach, with the Government expanding its infrastructure programme.

The Finance Secretary said: "We are acting to build economic confidence. We are working to attract investment. We are tackling unemployment, particularly youth unemployment."

Labour finance spokesman Ken Macintosh argued the extra funding for areas such as colleges and housing was "limited".

He branded the Budget a "big disappointment" and added: "Not only does it fail to address the scale of the economic problems facing us but even within its own limited aims, it still doesn't do what it sets out to do."

Meanwhile Tory finance spokesman Gavin Brown said the Budget "merely tinkers around the edges" describing it as a "missed opportunity by the SNP to give the Scottish economy a real shot in the arm".

Robin Parker, NUS Scotland president, welcomed the additional £11.4m for student support, saying: "The decision to reverse this cut to the poorest college students is a victory for thousands of students across Scotland."

Housing campaigners also welcomed Mr Swinney's Budget, with Mary Taylor, chief executive of the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations, saying it would "restore a large part of the planned cut to the affordable housing budget".