Sir Douglas William Gretton Wass GCB (15 April 1923 – 4 January 2017) was a British civil servant who served as Permanent Secretary to HM Treasury from 1974 to 1983. He was educated at Nottingham High School and St John's College, Cambridge. Wass was Permanent Secretary to HM Treasury from 1974 to 1983 and served as joint head of the civil service in 1981. In 1983, Sir Douglas presented the annual BBC Reith Lectures. In a series of six lectures titled Government and the Governed, he examined the role and responsibilities of government. Wass died on 4 January 2017 at the age of 93.