IAIN Duncan Smith has the most male-run executive team of civil servants of any Whitehall department which delivers services across the UK, new figures reveal.

The Work and Pensions Secretary has only two women on his 12-strong board responsible for managing the department and heading policy.

His department has been severely criticised over its welfare reform agenda, with a series of reports concluding that women and children have been most affected by his benefit cuts and sanctions.

Fears were also raised last week that the cuts announced in the Budget to working tax credits would also disproportionately hit mothers working part-time.

Yesterday’s figures also revealed that Chancellor George Osborne’s board of civil servants is very much male, with just two of the Treasury’s 10-strong board being women.

Only Nicky Morgan – Education Secretary and minister for women and equalities – had a civil servants’ board that was as dominated by men as Duncan Smith’s. However, her department does not cover the whole of the UK.

The figures were obtained from the House of Commons Library by the SNP and in total show women make up around a third, or 68 out of 200, of members of the UK Government’s departmental boards, which are responsible for providing “strategic leadership” for each government department.

Angela Crawley, SNP spokeswoman on women and equalities at Westminster, said she was not surprised so many of the senior civil servants helping to shape the Government’s austerity agenda were men.

She said: “This failure to commit to gender balance in public life comes as no surprise as women continue to bear much of the brunt of this government’s ideological commitment to austerity.

“The minister for women, Nicky Morgan, in particular should be embarrassed that her own department board is almost 83 per cent male. The minister must take action and encourage her Cabinet colleagues to do likewise.”

Labour MP and shadow Scottish secretary Ian Murray said: “All governments must do much more to take the lead in ensuring gender balance in parliament, government departments and public bodies. The Conservative Government must get their own house in order. Perhaps a more balanced management approach would help make them a little more compassionate.”

He also said he was disappointed the SNP had not supported his amendment to the Scotland Bill which was aimed at getting gender parity at Holyrood.

“It’s only by the public sector leading by example that we change the culture in private organisations too which is why it was very disappointing that the SNP did not back my amendment 123 to the Scotland Bill that would have delivered gender parity in the Scottish Parliament and on public boards in Scotland,” he said.

“he amendment was defeated as the SNP decided to abstain. We must take these rare opportunities when they arise to deal with this issue.”

The SNP said the Scottish Government’s board is 53 per cent female, and that Nicola Sturgeon’s Holyrood Cabinet is one of only three gender-balanced cabinets in the world.

The SNP wants to see women make up 50 per cent of public, private and third sector boards in Scotland by 2020.

The Home Office’s board was also heavily male dominated, with 11 men on the body and just five women. Only the Department of Culture, Media and Sport had more women civil servants than men on its board – seven against five respectively.

Last year an analysis by the campaign group Engender Scotland found of the £26 billion cuts to taxes and benefits by the UK Government since 2010, £22bn were being borne by women and £4bn by men.

A spokeswoman for the Department for Education said: “The Government is committed to supporting women at all stages of their careers and increasing women’s representation in UK boardrooms.

“We have a world-class civil service which is much more diverse than in the past and more diverse than the majority of British employers, but we know there is lots more work to do.”