How the salary compares

Prime minister: �165,418 Top tier civil servant: �179,000 Home secretary: �119,979 Constable starting: �17,733 Constable after five years: �23,037 Top chief constable: �170,000

It is not the first time Mr Bond has caught the government's attention - in 1998 his �298,000 package as chief executive of Yorkshire Water while workers were getting rises tied to inflation prompted Chancellor Gordon Brown to criticise "fat cat" pay rises.

The pay for his latest job has already attracted criticism from government opponents, although a Home Office spokeswoman said it "reflects the scale of the task that Mr Bond is taking on".

She went on: "We believe he's the best person for the job and if we want the best person we must be prepared to pay for that person.

"He has a good track record in the public and private sectors, hence the salary that he's being paid."

The new Police Standards Unit that 51-year-old Mr Bond will lead is part of a wide-ranging shake-up of many areas of British policing planned by the home secretary.

New role

Police unions - already bitterly opposed to proposed pay and conditions reforms - fear the unit could mean more centralised control by the Home Office.

Mr Bond's role is to identify "best practice" in the 43 forces of England and Wales and encourage it to be disseminated.

If he identifies areas of a force performing badly he will have the power to intervene to improve it.

Mr Blunkett said: "The standards unit has an absolutely key role in delivering on police reform.

This is, without doubt, a huge challenge, but it's an exciting one that I relish

Kevin Bond

"The purpose of the standards unit is to work in partnership with forces to look at what works in improving standards.

"We want to spread the expertise that already exists to ensure that all forces are up to the levels of the best and provide the highest possible standards of service to the public."

Mr Bond joined West Midlands police in 1972, moving to Warwickshire Constabulary and becoming a police superintendent before becoming chief superintendent with West Mercia police.

After leaving the police in 1990 he worked for the National Rivers Authority before joining Yorkshire Water and then Earth Tech Inc, his current employers, in 2000.

Continuing commitment

The firm is a US-owned environmental engineering firm with interests in rail and air transport, telecommunications and environmental consulting.

The Home Office spokeswoman said Mr Bond will continue working for Earth Tech "outside his commitment to the standards unit".

Mr Bond said he said he would focus on "the results, not the processes" of the unit.

"The home secretary has made absolutely clear what is required and the standards unit has a big task ahead of it.

"But it's a task I'm committed to."

'Extraordinary salary'

The head of the Police Federation, Fred Broughton, would not comment on Mr Bond's salary as he said it was still "unclear exactly what the PSU is and how it's going to operate".

The president of the Police Superintendents' Association, Chief Superintendent Kevin Morris, said: "If the government wants to entice people from the private sector they are going to have to pay significant sums to get them."

But Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Norman Baker said the government has not adequately justified the "extraordinary salary".

"It is hard to believe that the right person could not be found for the job at the normal salary for a senior civil servant.

"It is highly unusual that a head of one government unit will be paid more than top civil servants running whole departments, or indeed the prime minister running the country."