<p><br /> 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.<br /> </p><p><br /> 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.<br /> </p><p><br /> 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.<br /> </p><p><br /> 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.<br /> </p><p><br /> 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.<br /> </p><p><br /> 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.<br /> </p><p><br /> 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.<br /> </p><p><br /> 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.<br /> </p>
