Housing chief has £60,000 interest-free home loan

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Peter Housden, the £195,000-a-year Permanent Secretary at the Department for Communities and Local Government, gets the perk on his £1.4million home in Blackheath which he bought seven years ago for £620,000.

He was given a £60,000 housing loan to help him move to London when he joined the Department for Education and Skills from Nottinghamshire County Council.

He was promoted from the DfES to his current post in 2005. When his generous public sector pension is taken into account, Mr Housden's total pay package is estimated to be worth £242,000 a year.

As Permanent Secretary, the senior civil servant is in overall charge of delivering government policy on housing and homebuy schemes. But the small print of departmental accounts shows he continues to receive a £12,800 "benefit in kind" in free interest on the loan.

Shadow housing minister Grant Shapps told the Standard: "At a time when first-time buyers can't get a mortgage, it sends out the wrong message.

"A resettlement allowance is not uncommon But there must be questions asked about the justification for this seven years after having moved to London."