The Cabinet Office published a list of all high-earning civil servants yesterday as part of its drive to improve transparency at Whitehall.

Among the 173 high earners were three leaders of the Office of Government Commerce – the body charged with getting the best value out of public spending.

The three OGC chiefs on the list are major projects executive director David Pitchford who earns £200,000 a year, chief executive Nigel Smith who gets £185,000 and programme director David Shields who is paid £205,000.

Francis Maude, Minister for the Cabinet Office, said : “We are pulling back the curtains to let light into the corridors of power.  By being open and accountable we can start to win back people’s trust.

“Openness will not be comfortable for us in government; but it will enable the public to hold our feet to the fire. This way lies better government. Transparency is key to our efficiency drive, and will enable the public to help us to deliver better value for money in public spending.”