LONDON – The John Lewis Partnership has appointed Chris Wynn, formerly Ofcom's director of communications, as director of corporate comms, heading up a new team that combines corporate and public affairs, as well as internal comms. The retailer has also promoted Gillian Taylor to head of brand communications for the group.

LONDON — Digital transformation and technology services firm Atos UK & Ireland has expanded Engine MHP’s brief to cover PR and digital communications as well as public affairs, after a competitive pitch.

LONDON — Milk & Honey PR has appointed Simran Maini-Hoskins (pictured) to lead its 'corpsumer' division as an associate partner. Maini-Hoskins will also take responsibility for talent and development and diversity, inclusion and belonging at the agency. She joins from Nelson Bostock Unlimited, where she was an associate director, and has also worked at W and Speed.

LONDON — Brandnation has been appointed by online bicycle retailer Freewheel.co.uk, which supports a national network of independent bike shops, to activate its UK PR and communications plan. Following a recent boom in the cycling industry, in which it is estimated 1.3 million bikes were sold during lockdown, the agency has been briefed to capitalise on the increased interest in the sport and raise the visibility of the brand across UK media. The account will be headed up by the sport division’s account director, Joe Murgatroyd.

LONDON — The PRCA has relaunched its PR Apprenticeship programme after chancellor Rishi Sunak introduced new cash incentives for organisations. Under the new measures, organisations hiring young apprentices will receive cash payments of up to £2,000 per apprentice. The PR Apprenticeship programme offers aspiring practitioners the opportunity to work full-time in PR while undertaking on-the-job training and assessments over an 18 month period; 93% progress to permanent employment in PR. The PRCA is holding a free online event on 30 July to introduce the programme.

HAMPSHIRE, UK – Jargon PR has been appointed by remote staffing specialist Noon Dalton to design and manage a global communications rebrand, with a focus on targeting the enterprise market. Noon Dalton helps organisations streamline processes by using remote, outsourced workers for business process services, particularly at times of rapid growth.

MANCHESTER — Be The Best Communications has appointed Lorna Bithell as senior consultant after a series of new account wins. In the last financial quarter, Be The Best Communications started work for Atlas Cloud, NES Global Talent, and the British infrastructure sector’s Industry Innovation Partnership, known as i3P. Bithell joins from Galibier PR where she was client services lead.

LONDON — Health and wellbeing specialist agency Road has been appointed by the Health Food Manufacturers’ Association (HFMA) as its new retained communications partner. The appointment follows a competitive pitch around a brief to re-energise the association’s social, digital and PR presence. The HFMA represents the interests of manufacturers and suppliers in the natural products sector, with members including Holland & Barrett, Vitabiotics and Nelsons.