Sir Peter James Housden (born 7 December 1950) is a former public official who worked in local and central government. He served as

Permanent Secretary to the Scottish Government The Permanent Secretary to the Scottish Government () is the most senior civil servant in Scotland who leads more than 7,000 staff within the Scottish Government and has oversight of around 125 agencies. History The role of permanent secretary ...

from June 2010 to June 2015. He was previously Permanent Secretary of the

Department for Communities and Local Government The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) is a ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for housing, communities, and local government in England. It was established in May 200 ...

Early life

Housden was born on 7 December 1950 and was educated at Grove Comprehensive School, Market Drayton, Shropshire. He studied at the

University of Essex The University of Essex is a public university, public research university in Essex, England. Established by royal charter in 1965, it is one of the original plate glass university, plate glass universities. The university comprises three camp ...

where he graduated in 1973 with a First in Sociology. He began his career as a

comprehensive school A comprehensive school is a secondary school for pupils aged 11–16 or 11–18, that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude, in contrast to a selective school system where admission is restricted on the basis ...

teacher in

Shropshire Shropshire (; abbreviated SalopAlso used officially as the name of the county from 1974–1980. The demonym for inhabitants of the county "Salopian" derives from this name.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West M ...

and worked as an education officer in three county LEAs.

Public Service

Housden was appointed as Director of Education in

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated ''Notts.'') is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. The county is bordered by South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. Th ...

in 1991. In 1994, Peter was appointed as

Chief Executive A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

and in his seven years in that post managed

Nottinghamshire County Council Nottinghamshire County Council is the upper-tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Nottinghamshire in England. The non-metropolitan county is smaller than the ceremonial county; the non-metropolitan county excludes the city of ...

through Local Government Review and a wide-ranging programme of modernisation. In September 2000 he was seconded to the Audit Commission for six months to lead their work on the

NHS The National Health Service (NHS) is the term for the publicly funded health care, publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom: the National Health Service (England), NHS Scotland, NHS Wales, and Health and Social Care (Northern ...

national plan. Housden joined the Department for Education and Skills in November 2001 as

Director General A director general, general director or director-general (plural: ''directors general'', ''general directors'', ''directors-general'', ''director generals'' or ''director-generals'') is a senior executive officer, often the chief executive officer ...

for Schools. He had overall responsibility for all the Department's work in schools and in early years, and for current priorities on primary standards and secondary reform. He held this role until his appointment as Permanent Secretary of ODPM in 2005. He was appointed Permanent Secretary to the Scottish Government from June 2010. In his role as Scotland's Permanent Secretary, Sir Peter was the principal policy adviser to the First Minister and the Cabinet and led significant work on the integration of public services and new approaches to leadership in public services workforces. He was a member of the UK Civil Service Board and its Senior Leadership Committee. As Permanent Secretary in Scotland, his impartiality over

Scottish Independence Scottish independence (; ) is the idea of Scotland regaining its independence and once again becoming a sovereign state, independent from the United Kingdom. The term Scottish independence refers to the political movement that is campaignin ...

was called into question with for example the Labour leader

Iain Gray Iain Cumming Gray (born 7 June 1957) is a Scottish politician who served as Leader of the Scottish Labour Party from 2008 to 2011. He was the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the East Lothian constituency from 2007 to 2021, having p ...

accusing Housden of having "gone native", but was consistently defended by the leaders of the UK Civil Service. Peter Housden delivered the Frank Stacey Memorial Lecture at the 2013 Annual Conference of the Public Administration Committee of the

Joint University Council of the Applied Social Sciences The Joint University Council of Applied Social Sciences (JUC) is the UK learned society for public and social administration. The JUC was founded at a meeting at London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science ...

where he made the case for a distinct 'Scottish approach' to government. Peter Housden is a Vice-President of the

RNLI The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) is the largest of the lifeboat services operating around the coasts of the United Kingdom, Ireland, the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man, as well as on some inland waterways. Founded in 1824 ...

, having previously served as a Trustee. Peter Housden was the Chair of The Civil Service Club. from 2017 to 2023.

Publications

* 'The Passing of a Country Grammar School' (APS, 2015) * 'Local Statesman' (Local Government Centre, Warwick University, 2000) * 'Bucking the Market: LEAs and Special Needs' (NASEN, 1993).

Honours and awards

Housden was appointed

Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by King George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. Recipients of the Order are usually senior British Armed Forces, military officers or senior Civil Service ...

(KCB) in the

2010 Birthday Honours The 2010 Birthday Honours for the Commonwealth realms were announced to celebrate the Queen's Birthday on 7 June 2010 in New Zealand, on 12 June 2010 in the United Kingdom, The Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Sai ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Housden, Peter 1950 births Living people Permanent Secretaries of the Scottish Executive Permanent Under-Secretaries of State for Communities and Local Government Permanent Secretaries of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister Civil servants in the Department for Education and Skills Alumni of the University of Essex Academics of the University of Warwick Local government officers in England Schoolteachers from Shropshire Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath