A pay freeze has been announced for public sector bosses as part of aims to tackle spending.

The Scottish Government's Finance Secretary John Swinney officially endorsed the policy, which for the first time includes NHS executives.

He said: "We are facing a period of real financial constraint, which is why every effort must be made to ensure that pay, especially for the highest-paid people in the public sector, is affordable and sustainable.

"Scottish Government ministers have already shown a lead in pay issues by taking a pay freeze both last year and this, and today's policy formally extends that approach to the highest-paid people across the public sector whose pay arrangements come under our control."

Mr Swinney repeated his plea to executives to waive their bonuses for the year ahead. Last year, nine highly-paid managers waived some or all of their bonus payment.

The announcement is part of the Government's Public Sector Pay Policy for Senior Appointments 2010-11, which follows a wider policy for the whole of the sector.

Mr Swinney added: "In the current climate, the public quite rightly believe large bonuses paid out on a routine basis are unacceptable.

"While we are tied into certain contracts that rule out prohibiting bonuses across the public sector, I want to be absolutely clear that we will ensure that where a bonus is offered, this should be for genuinely exceptional performance only."

Mr Swinney underlined efforts to tackle public spending levels, including 3.1% "efficiency savings" in 2008-9, which exceeded the 2% target.

Tory finance spokesman Derek Brownlee said: "This is all very well but the number of Scottish Government staff has soared by over 1,000 since the SNP came to power in 2007. That has pushed up the pay bill, undoing any good work by this pay freeze.

"John Swinney may talk about restraint but Alex Salmond is the only politician around who doesn't think cuts are necessary if we are to tackle Labour's debt mountain."

Labour finance spokesman David Whitton said: "In the current economic circumstances it is important that public money is used to support jobs and frontline services.

"I fully support the announcement of a pay freeze for public sector chief executives.

"My personal view is that we should also end the bonus culture for senior managers. It would give the economy a welcome boost if some of this money was redistributed to help those on low incomes."