- The Association of Colleges has promoted Chris Walden to the role of public affairs director and Ben Verinder to comms director. Previously, Walden was public affairs manager and Verinder was media and PR manager.
- Stockport Council is launching a campaign with partners, including the Primary Care Trust and Age Concern, aimed at combating fuel poverty. Stockport's 'Kill The Chill' initiative will raise awareness of the importance of keeping warm through winter. An estimated 20,000 properties in Stockport do not reach the current standard of adequate heating and this could result in a dramatic increase in winter deaths - currently estimated to be 138 residents.
- The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) has appointed Justin Hawkins as its head of comms. Hawkins was previously at Cumbria Council press office and before that a long-serving journalist at the Westmorland Gazette in Cumbria. The CCRC investigates possible miscarriages of justice.
- The Department for Transport (DfT) has launched a campaign warning of the dangers of not wearing seatbelts. As well as a high-profile and shocking TV ad campaign, the DfT is handling social media and an in-house media relations campaign. The initiative was launched by road safety minister Jim Fitzpatrick, who broke with convention by citing the crash that killed Diana, Princess of Wales.
- LGComms has revealed the initial findings of its national project to assess the impact of council publications. So far, the survey has revealed that 65.6 per cent of councils publish magazines, while 32.5 per cent have newspapers. The majority of magazines and newspapers are published every three months.
