The Cabinet Office has published a list of hospitality received by permanent secretaries and departmental board members for the first time.

The document, which runs to 84 pages, covers the entirety of 2007 and marks the first time such information has been released in full. (Link to PDF).

Among the entries were drinks receptions, dinners and the occasional sporting event: David Nicholson, chief executive of the NHS, listed his attendance at a Chelsea match on 28 January 2007, while the cabinet secretary, Sir Gus O’Donnell, and culture department permanent secretary Jonathan Stephens both enjoyed days at Wimbledon courtesy of the All-England club.

Indeed, senior bosses at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) enjoyed an enviable range of cultural and sporting events. Stephens’ outings also included a Manchester United match, cricket at Lords, and a night at the English National Opera.

Hospitality received was usually from organisations with a connection to the work of a particular department. Treasury permanent secretary Nick Macpherson registered meals with the British Bankers’ Association, the City of London Corporation and the CBI.

Within the first six months of his department being formed, Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills chief Ian Watmore enjoyed dinners from Oxford University and the 1994 group of small research universities.

The civil service code states that officials must not accept hospitality that “might reasonably be seen to compromise their personal judgment or integrity”. Each department is also obliged to provide detailed guidance to staff on acceptance of hospitality.

HM Revenue & Customs oblige staff to report any “single offer or inducement” worth more than £25, while the Office of Government Commerce tells staff that hospitality should not be “disproportionately prolonged or lavish”.

A Cabinet Office spokesman said the release of the information reflected a commitment to transparency. “All hospitality received is in line with guidelines set out in the civil service code and civil service management code," they added.

But the Commons public administration committee has called for the list to go further in the future, and for it to include gifts to lower-ranking civil servants.

The committee of MPs criticised the "culture of secrecy" and questioned why it has taken so long to release the information when it reported on lobbying last month.

All hospitality and gifts to ministers and civil servants should be recorded, MPs noted. "The bureaucratic burden of providing this information should not be great: it is, in theory at least, being collected already," it concluded.