Lord Pendry – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Pendry on 2016-04-12.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of reports that a doctor prescribed performance-enhancing drugs to 150 athletes, what steps they are taking to ensure that sports in the UK are free from doping.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

The Government is deeply concerned by these allegations. Sports fans are entitled to be sure that what they are watching is true and fair with all athletes competing on a level playing field. We are grateful for the investigative journalism by the Sunday Times for bringing these apparent abuses to light, and we have asked for there to be an urgent independent investigation into what action was taken when these allegations were first received and what more needs to be done to ensure that British sport remains clean. The Government is also looking at whether existing legislation in this area goes far enough. If it becomes clear that stronger criminal sanctions are needed then we will not hesitate to act.