Peter Housden was appointed as Permanent Secretary at the new Department for Communities and Local Government on 24 October 2005. His role is to ensure the Department delivers the objectives set out by the DCLG Secretary of State, the Right Honourable Hazel Blears MP and her ministerial team across its responsibilities for housing, planning, local government, community empowerment, fire and civil resilience, and cohesion, race and faiths.

Peter came to DCLG from the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) where he was Director-General for schools from November 2001. In that job, he was responsible for primary and secondary education in England's 27,000 schools and led the major reform programmes on educational standards and workforce reform, and the drive toward a more intelligent accountability framework for schools and local authorities.

Prior to joining DfES, Peter served as Chief Executive of Nottinghamshire County Council from 1994-2001, leading the organisation 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 its work on the NHS national plan.

Peter began his career as a comprehensive school teacher in Shropshire and worked as an education officer in three county authorities before being appointed director of education in Nottinghamshire in 1991.

He is also a trustee of the Work Foundation.

Source: DCLG
Updated Nov 2007