Airedale's leading health chief said he has no problem with making sure hospital managers reveal their salary - even though he refused to reveal his earnings last year.

Bob Allen, chief executive of Airedale NHS Trust, which runs Airedale General Hospital, near Steeton, took advantage of a change to disclosure requirements for NHS managers to keep the contents of his pay packet a secret.

Details of how much he earned during 2001/2002 were left out of the trust's annual report called Putting You in the Picture, along with those of Doug Farrow, director of planning, and nursing boss Susan Franks.

The directors were among 200 from hospital and primary care trusts across the country who withheld their consent to reveal salary details, in a move which went against Government guidelines.

But now the Department of Health is taking legal advice to stop the same thing happening again this year.

A report from the Incomes Date Services accuses some managers of using the Data Protection Act 1998 to withhold details, and possibly conceal percentage pay rises that run into double figures.

A spokesman for the Department of Health said contracts for new managers obliged them to disclose salary levels but older contracts did not.

"It is not easy to force them to reveal information," he said. "We are seeking advice to see if this can be changed."

Mr Allen said he did not have a problem with this and revealed his salary is now £99,000 a year, a rise of £9,000 from the previous year. "I do not have any difficulty with the disclosure of salaries," he said. He added what he objected to last year was disclosing his age and pension details.

Senior managers at Bradford Hospitals NHS Trust did include their salary details in the Trust's annual report for 2001/2002.

It showed that chief executive David Jackson earned between £115,000 and £120,000.

Shadow health secretary, Dr Liam Fox MP, said: "The wages of public servants should be a matter of public record. Attempting to hide the truth is a disgrace."

Government advice is that senior employees of NHS organisations should give their name and title, age, salary, benefits in kind and pension.