The upper echelons of Britain's civil service still do not reflect the make up of society, the National Audit Office has said.

In the first report of its kind the NAO has examined how the public sector has responded to an increasingly diverse population.

The study submitted to parliament found good progress in many areas but that work was "still essential if public services are to meet their full potential".

NAO chief Sir John Bourn said the office had aimed to looks across Whitehall at the way in which government bodies are taking steps to better tailor their services to the needs of different groups.

The report is based on a survey of 131 government bodies, assessing their approach to disability, gender, race, religion and belief, age and sexual orientation.

The study selected successful initiatives in order to highlight the lessons that can be learnt.

The Crown Prosecution Service was found to be good at consultation, while in Bristol and North Somerset the Inland Revenue’s outreach activities in the Sikh and Chinese communities were found to have helped ethnic minority businesses and individuals understand and comply with the tax system.

The National Gallery’s "Art through words" programme has helped to make parts of its collection accessible to blind and partially sighted blind people.

The NAO found that the civil service as a whole is broadly representative of the wider population in terms of gender and race.

However at senior grades, despite "making steady progress", it was "far from representative".

"Tailoring public services to address diverse needs can be seen as important, not simply as a moral end it itself, but also to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of public services by making sure they actually benefit all those they are designed to serve," Sir John Bourn said,

"This report shows that there is much that government can do and is doing to achieve this, and makes recommendations that show how this might best be effected."