Ken MacQuarrie, the director of BBC Scotland, earns between £190,000 and £220,000, leading the list of 10 executives at BBC Scotland whose salaries are published today by The Herald, after a request under the Freedom of Information Act.

In July, the top earners at the corporation in London were revealed for the first time, with Mark Thompson, director general of the BBC, earning the highest amount, a salary of £834,000.

However, at that time none of the salaries of the leading executives of BBC Scotland were revealed.

Throughout the BBC more than 40 executives earn more than the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, who receives £194,000, and Mr MacQuarrie is likely to be one of them.

The second-highest earner in Scotland is Donalda MacKinnon, the head of BBC Scotland’s programmes and services, whose salary is between £130,000 and £160,000.

Six senior managers – Bruce Malcolm, Atholl Duncan, Ewan Angus, Anne Mensah, Andrea Miller and Alan Tyler – earn between £100,000 and £130,000, while Donald-Iain Brown and John Maxwell Hobbs earn between £70,000 and £100,000.

In a statement released with the disclosure of the salaries, the BBC said: “These senior managers are directly responsible for both large sums of public money and

a large amount of output produced across all parts of the BBC.

“Salaries are determined by taking into account factors such as the pay of other internal staff and the salaries for roles of similar size and scope in other organisations. In January this year, we

froze pay and bonuses for all BBC executives and senior managers until at least August 2010.”

Mr MacQuarrie is responsible for all of BBC Scotland’s output and resources in Scotland, including 1200 staff at 12 Scottish offices and an annual budget of about £150 million.

He oversees BBC 1 and BBC 2 Scotland, BBC Alba, the new Gaelic channel, Radio Scotland, Radio nan Gaidheal, and output for the rest of the BBC television channels and radio stations.

His counterpart at STV, chief executive Rob Woodward, is said to earn slightly more than £300,000 a year, while Andy Duncan, head of Channel 4, earns about £600,000.

Reaction to the publication of the BBC Scotland salaries was mixed last night, with Michael Russell, the culture minister, declining to comment, and Pauline McNeill, the culture spokeswoman for Labour in Scotland, saying it was right the salary bands were in the public domain.

However, Ted Brocklebank, spokesman for the Scottish Conservatives on cultural matters, said: “I think the salaries have become swollen. I don’t take the old argument that these salaries are high because they would receive more in the private sector – I know of no-one in the private sector in Scotland who is earning salaries such as these. And where, after all, is the competition to the BBC in Scotland? There is no competition.”

The figures come after The Herald revealed the expenses claims of the top 10 executives at BBC Scotland, which came to more than £70,000 over five years.

The claims showed that BBC Scotland used public money to claim for Uefa Cup final tickets to see Rangers and to buy a cheeseboard for comedian Griff Rhys Jones.

A spokesman for BBC Scotland said: “The BBC has to strike the right balance between delivering value for money to licence fee payers while also attracting and retaining the calibre of staff needed to provide public service broadcasting.

“Total remuneration for senior staff is substantially less than our commercial sector equivalents.”

“We are very mindful of the public’s view that all major organisations need to show even greater pay restraint in the current economic climate.”