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

He began his career as a comprehensive school teacher in Shropshire and worked as an education officer in three county LEAs.

In 1994, Peter was appointed as Chief Executive and in his seven years in that post managed Nottinghamshire County Council through Local Government Review and a wide-ranging programme of modernisation.

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.

[7] 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 where he made the case for a distinct 'Scottish approach' to government.