Category: Press Releases

The press release issued by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport on 13 July 2023.

Former England and Great Britain footballer turned pundit Karen Carney MBE has today published her major independent review into the future of domestic women’s football.

• Former Lioness Karen Carney MBE publishes findings and recommendations of her review into the future of domestic women’s football
• Review was commissioned by UK Government following England’s UEFA Women’s EURO 2022 success and is published in the build-up to the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023
• Report recommends raising minimum standards across the game and calls for the Women’s Super League and Women’s Championship to become fully professional environments

Former England and Great Britain footballer turned pundit Karen Carney MBE has today published her major review into the future of domestic women’s football, calling for the Women’s Super League and Women’s Championship to become fully professional environments, and a new dedicated broadcast slot for women’s football.

The findings in the independent report, commissioned by the Government in September 2022, examine the opportunities and challenges for the women’s and girls’ game – from the commercial future of the elite game to the current professional environment, the fan experience and women and girls’ experiences of participating in grassroots football. It sets out a route to lift minimum standards and deliver bold and sustainable growth at elite and grassroots levels.

Since the launch of the review, Carney has met with a wide variety of stakeholders from across the game. This includes the technical staff and players at Women’s Super League and Women’s Championship clubs, former players, the football authorities and representatives from organisations across women’s sport and beyond to discuss the issues facing the game’s development.

She has also met with financial and commercial experts, alongside major broadcasters and sponsors to discuss the game’s financial health and future revenue opportunities.

Chair of the review of domestic women’s football Karen Carney MBE said:

Following the Lionesses’ unforgettable success in 2022 and as we look ahead to the World Cup, it is clear that domestic women’s football has reached a defining moment.

This review has enabled us to get a comprehensive understanding of the state of the game, and how we can capitalise on the current momentum.

It is clear that the women’s game in this country can become a world leading sport that not only generates immense economic and social value, but sets the standards for women’s professional sport globally.

These recommendations must be a blueprint for how this can be achieved, and must be acted upon with urgency.

The review makes ten recommendations:

• The new standalone company tasked with running the Women’s Super League (WSL) and Women’s Championship, NewCo, should not settle for anything less than world leading standards for players, fans, staff and everybody involved in the women’s game.
• The FA needs to fix the talent pathway to create generation after generation of world-beating Lionesses. As part of this:
  • The FA should choose a strategic partner willing to invest in building a sustainable pipeline of domestic talent.
  • Clubs should be allowed access to an increased pool of international talent while the domestic pathway is fixed.
• The Women’s Super League and Women’s Championship should become fully professional environments designed to attract, develop and sustain the best playing talent in the world. This means the FA:
  • Addressing the gulf in minimum operating standards between the two leagues (specifically minimum contact time with a player, and player salaries).
  • Providing gold standard physical and mental health provision.
  • Mandating elite training facilities for players.
  • Mandating a world leading parental package.
  • Funding full union representation to both tiers.
  • Uplifting duty of care provision for players.
  • Offering best-in-class career transition support for players leaving the professional game.
• The FA should urgently address the lack of diversity across the women’s game – in on and off-pitch roles.
• The FA, Premier League, EFL and broadcasters should work together to carve out a new dedicated broadcast slot for women’s football (last season most WSL matches kicked off at 11.30am on Saturdays and 6.45pm on Sundays).
• Clubs must better value and support their fans – the FA should raise minimum standards to enforce this.
• The Government must deliver on recent commitments around equal access to school sports for girls.
• Everyone involved in funding grassroots facilities – the Government, local authorities, the FA and Premier League – must come together to increase investment to accommodate meaningful access for women and girls to play sport.
• The FA, Premier League and Football Foundation should work together to make sure women and girls are benefitting from funding flowing into facilities across the pyramid.
• As the FA hands over the responsibility for running the Women’s Super League and Championship to NewCo, it must now place more focus on the development of grassroots clubs and the rest of the women’s football pyramid.

Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer said:

I want to pay tribute to Karen Carney and her panel of experts for all the hard work and dedication they have put into producing such an important review.

After the joy of last summer when the Lionesses lifted the Women’s EURO 2022 trophy, and as we approach the Women’s World Cup in just a few days time, we are at a milestone for women’s sport.

Women’s football in particular has huge potential to improve the lives of women and girls and offer a special and accessible sporting environment for fans. Everyone involved in the game must consider the recommendations made in this report and help to take the game to the next level.

The findings and recommendations have been developed with the support of a panel of experts. It includes former professional footballer turned pundit Ian Wright, former Lionesses Head Coach Hope Powell, Chair of the Professional Game Academy Audit Company and Director of the Women in Football group Jane Purdon, NFL Head of Europe and UK and former CEO of World Rugby Brett Gosper, former Deloitte Global Lead Partner for Sports Business Dan Jones and Secretary General of the International Working Group on Women and Sport Lisa O’Keefe.

The Government will set out its full response to the recommendations in the autumn.

The press release issued by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport on 12 July 2023.

A collection of 18th-century drawings by botanical artist Simon Taylor (1742-1796) valued at £17,640 is at risk of leaving the UK unless a domestic buyer is found.

• 38 original drawings of flowers by Simon Taylor played vital part  in development of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew
• Collection provides a unique record of what was growing in British gardens, especially Kew, undocumented elsewhere
• Export bar decision follows independent advice of the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest

A collection of 18th-century drawings by botanical artist Simon Taylor (1742-1796) valued at £17,640 is at risk of leaving the UK unless a domestic buyer is found.

Arts and Heritage Minister Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay has placed an export bar on the collection of 38 original drawings of flowers in the hope they can remain in the UK for public study and education.

The minister’s decision follows the independent advice of the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest.

The collection of original drawings was highly significant in helping John Stuart, third Earl of Bute (1713-92), in the development of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, which he helped transform into a national botanic garden of international repute for Princess Augusta.

The drawings are a significant record of the plants in the garden prior to the involvement of Joseph Banks who became Kew’s first unofficial director in 1768.

They are significant for their aesthetic value, scientific accuracy and provide a unique record of what was growing in British gardens, especially Kew, undocumented elsewhere.The expert committee found the botanical drawings are of outstanding significance in the branches of horticultural, artistic and scientific history.

This assessment was based on the ‘Waverley Criteria’, established in 1952 to decide on works of art and cultural objects which deserve efforts to keep them in the country.

Arts and Heritage Minister Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay said:

This collection of watercolour drawings by Simon Taylor – commissioned by the botanist and Prime Minister Lord Bute – helped to sow the seeds for the wonderful Royal Botanic Garden at Kew.

From its earliest days, Kew was a leading hub of research and education. This collection is a significant record of its eighteenth-century origins and what could be found there before it became the garden we know and cherish today.

I sincerely hope that a UK buyer comes forward to save this incredible collection so that the public can continue to learn from and admire it.

Committee Member Peter Barber said:

The Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew are universally recognised as one of this country’s greatest glories. They were the fruit of a partnership between George III’s mother, Augusta of Saxe-Gotha, Dowager Princess of Wales, and his tutor and later prime minister, John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute. But very little survives to show what plants were originally to be found in the Gardens. An opportunity has now arisen to save some precious depictions of these plants for the nation.

Taylor’s 38 finely executed watercolours, commissioned by Lord Bute, are much more than merely pretty pictures.  Part of a now dispersed collection of 15 volumes containing nearly 700 paintings, they have the potential to add significantly to our knowledge of Kew in its earliest days. I hope they can find a home in this country where they can most easily and appropriately be studied and enjoyed, and perhaps be joined in the future by more volumes, or at least watercolours, as they emerge.

The Committee made its recommendation on the basis that the drawings meet the first and third Waverley criteria for their outstanding connection with our history and national life and their outstanding significance to the study of history of development of botany in the UK and at Kew Gardens in particular.

The decision on the export licence application for the drawings will be deferred for a period ending on 11 September 2023. At the end of the first deferral period owners will have a consideration period of 15 Business Days to consider any offer(s) to purchase the drawings at the recommended price of £17,640. The second deferral period will commence following the signing of an Option Agreement and will last for three months.

Offers from public bodies for less than the recommended price through the private treaty sale arrangements, where appropriate, may also be considered by the Minister. Such purchases frequently offer substantial financial benefit to a public institution wishing to acquire the item.

Notes to editors:

1. In December 2022, Lord Parkinson discussed the Waverley criteria in a speech to mark their 70th anniversary, and used the opportunity to invite thoughts on the way they work – for instance, whether the Committee should say more about how it has  considered items’ connection to the history of other countries as well as to the UK’s, or whether the items it considers are destined for public display rather than private collection. [Read his full speech] (https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/lord-parkinson-speech-at-a-reception-to-mark-70-years-of-the-waverley-criteria)
2. Organisations or individuals interested in purchasing the drawings should contact the RCEWA on 0161 934 4317.
3. Details of the drawings are as follows: One folio volume (607 x 450 mm) containing 38 watercolours on vellum, unsigned and undated. Latin binomial names of the plant subjects neatly written on each painting in ink. Contemporary binding in red Morocco gilt, with arms of John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute. Spine title reads “Plants by Taylor. Vol. XIII”.
4. Provenance: John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute (1712-1792). His executor’s sale of the Bute Library, Leigh and Sotheby, 8 May 1794, lot 1246. The Library Collection of Henry Rogers Boughton, 2nd Baron Fairhaven (1900-1973) established by him between 1927 and 1960, United Kingdom. Thence by descent to the current owner.
5. The Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest is an independent body, serviced by Arts Council England (ACE), which advises the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport on whether a cultural object, intended for export, is of national importance under specified criteria.
6. Arts Council England is the national development agency for creativity and culture. Its strategic vision in Let’s Create is that, by 2030, England should be a country in which the creativity of everyone is valued and given the chance to flourish and where everyone has access to a remarkable range of high-quality cultural experiences. ACE invests public money from the government and the National Lottery to support the sector and deliver the vision. Following the Covid-19 crisis, ACE developed a £160 million Emergency Response Package, with nearly 90 per cent coming from the National Lottery, for organisations and individuals needing support. It is also one of the bodies administering the government’s unprecedented Culture Recovery Fund.