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Football must be held accountable for how it tackles discrimination by the new independent regulator, a key parliamentary committee has said. In the week where an independent report found evidence of “deep-rooted” discrimination in cricket, the Culture Media and Sport (CMS) committee insists football cannot be relied on to get its own house in order on equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI). It called for EDI measures to be included in a new code for football governance, and for the regulator to have powers to mandate and assess EDI action plans put together by clubs. The Government is committed to legislating for an independent regulator for English football (IREF), with Sports Minister Stuart Andrew telling supporters in Manchester last weekend that it would be one of the first bills to progress after the King’s Speech in the autumn. However, the Government said in its white paper on football governance published in February that it did not believe EDI matters should fall within the immediate scope of the regulator, something which frustrated anti-discrimination charity Kick It Out, particularly given the fan-led review had recommended EDI be in the regulator’s remit. The CMS committee says it is “sceptical” football will come up with suitable collective standards by itself, given the “limited progress” it has observed. A report from the committee, which recommended the Government set up the regulator in shadow form by the end of the year, stated: “We are concerned that the Government has ignored recommendations to include EDI Action Plans for clubs and oversight of these plans within IREF’s remit. “We believe that IREF would be well placed to receive and publish standardised data on compliance with EDI requirements in football, as well as monitoring and enforcing compliance with equality standards through EDI Action Plans. “We recommend that the Government should give IREF the authority to mandate EDI Action Plans as part of its threshold licence conditions for clubs. Clubs’ performances against these Action Plans should be assessed regularly by IREF as part of its routine licence reviews.” Kick It Out chief executive Tony Burnett welcomed the committee’s recommendation and added: “Football has dragged its heels for too long when making the change needed to make it a more welcoming sport. “There is still a lack of diversity in boardrooms, coaching and refereeing, while players and fans suffer from discrimination from the professional game down to grassroots. There has been progress, but a lack of collaboration and few solid outcomes over the past decade mean it’s time for the process to be accelerated. “That is why we endorse the recommendations, already made in the fan-led review, that EDI measures are included in the new Code for Football Governance, and that action plans are part of a club’s licensing conditions. “Placing equality, diversity and inclusion at the heart of football’s governance will help the game grow, therefore safeguarding it for future generations.” The Government will hold roundtable meetings over the coming months to drive forward EDI initiatives across the football pyramid as it continues to engage with the FA, leagues, fan representatives and civil society organisations. The regulator should also set “substantially higher” fan engagement standards rather than accepting existing Premier League standards as the baseline, the committee said. Football’s authorities were also warned to “get their act together” on a new financial agreement between the Premier League, the EFL and the FA, with the new regulator set to be given backstop powers to impose a solution via arbitration if one cannot be reached amongst themselves. However, the PA news agency understands talks over the ‘New Deal For Football’ are progressing well, with regular talks taking place between the three bodies. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Ben Duckett has no regrets taking on Australia after falling short of century I’d give my other ACL for England to win the World Cup – Leah Williamson Novak Djokovic warms up for Wimbledon with exhibition win over Frances Tiafoe

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Developers say they “audibly gasped” when first using Apple’s upcoming augmented reality headset, the company has said. Apple announced the Vision Pro headset in June, when it said it would arrive early next year and cost $3,500. In the wake of that announcement, it allowed some journalists to use the headset, including The Independent. Since then, however, Apple has kept its Vision Pro largely hidden. Some units have been shipped out to developers, and it is offering special sessions where they can try out their apps in Apple’s buildings, but those taking part have been asked to sign expansive non-disclosure agreements that mean they cannot talk about those experiences. Now Apple has published some comments from some of those early users, however, who have detailed the first experience of using the headset. Actually strapping the headset on is fundamentally different from using it in the simulator that Apple has provided so that developers can start work on their augmented reality apps, they said. “I’d been staring at this thing in the simulator for weeks and getting a general sense of how it works, but that was in a box,” said David Smith, the developer of the app Widgetsmith. “The first time you see your own app running for real, that’s when you get the audible gasp.” Another developer said that it changed the experience of using his app. Michael Simmons – who runs Flexibits, which creates apps such as calendar tool Fantastical, said that using the kit was a surprise. “It was like seeing Fantastical for the first time,” he said. “It felt like I was part of the app.” Using the app in augmented reality meant that he was already thinking of new ways to get past the “limiting” nature of a screen with a border, he said in Apple’s post. “Experiencing spatial computing not only validated the designs we’d been thinking about — it helped us start thinking not just about left to right or up and down, but beyond borders at all.” Slack employee Chris Delbuck also said that he had come to think about the way the app might work in three dimensions in new ways. “I wouldn’t have been able to do that without having the device in hand,” Apple quoted him as saying. Apple is allowing any adult developer to apply to attend one of its “Vision Pro labs” for free, which are being held in a range of cities across the world. Developers must bring either an app they are working on for the Vision Pro, or an iPhone or iPad app that they want to see in augmented reality. Some reports have suggested that Apple has seen less interest for the labs than it might have hoped, possibly in part because it is not offering the labs on the east coast of the US. The labs have been “under-filled”, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reported earlier this month – which might explain why the company is so keen to stress the importance of attending the sessions. Read More iPhone 15 could bring two major changes to fix battery life iPhone owners to receive payouts from Apple iPhone 15: Global smartphone demand collapses as Apple aims to take top spot

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