The Foreign Office has confirmed that a senior business figure is to overhaul the organisation of MI6.

Also known as the Secret Intelligence Service, the body has come under fire for the quality of its intelligence.

Since the publication of the government's 2002 dossier on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, three sources of reporting have been withdrawn.

This included the infamous claim that Saddam Hussein was capable of launching weapons of mass destruction at 45 minutes' notice.

News that MI6 was set for a major overhaul was reported in the Times and Guardian newspapers on Wednesday.

But in an unusual move, the Foreign Office confirmed the appointment of an outside figure to review the organisation.

It was also confirmed that a senior intelligence officer had been chosen to lead an internal watchdog department to vet the quality of MI6's intelligence.

The Foreign Office spokesman said the agency would go "back to the drawing board to ensure that all intelligence sources were validated" under its new chief John Scarlett.

Dame Pauline Neville-Jones, a former chairman of the joint intelligence committee, welcomed the changes.

"Clearly something went wrong during the Iraq war," she told the BBC.

"It wasn't, I think, that you had a department here that has always got it wrong or hasn't had necessary machinery in place.

"I think what the Iraq war showed was that certain bits of the machine weren't functioning properly and I think there was a stretch on resources.

"I think those things are true. Now you put that right and you also reinforce your quality control systems and I think that is what John is doing."