Tom Stannard, director of policy and communications at Blackburn with Darwen Council, has been appointed to the new national role of National Institute of Adult Continuing Education's director of communications and public affairs.

Tom joins independent charity NIACE from a 15-year track record in UK local government. As a key member of the Blackburn Corporate Management Team, Tom is a CIPR-accredited reputation management expert, he established the UK's first fully integrated shared service for communications and reputation management between local government and the NHS.