Campaigners have welcomed the official publication of the names, job titles and pay deals of the 172 top civil servants earning more than £150,000.

The salary and perks packages were revealed by the Cabinet Office as part of a pledge by the Government to give the public more access to official information.

Top of the list was John Fingleton, chief executive of the Office of Fair Trading, whose annual package - including taxable benefits and allowances - is up to £279,999.

NHS chief executive David Nicholson earns up to £259,999 and Joe Harley, the IT Director General and Chief Information Officer at the Department for Work and Pensions £249,999.

The Chief of the Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup gets up to £244,999 and the head of the civil service, Cabinet Secretary Sir Gus O'Donnell £239,999.

Most of the 172 salaries had either already been published or been unearthed by campaign groups such as the TaxPayers' Alliance, which publishes an annual Whitehall rich list.

But the pressure group warmly welcomed the formal disclosure as a first step to giving taxpayers the information they needed about where their money was being spent.

Prime Minister David Cameron yesterday set out to Whitehall departments a series of items they must make public in a bid to remove what he called a "cloak of secrecy" around government.