John Whittingdale has called for an urgent investigation into the British anti-doping watchdog's response to allegations a doctor had prescribed banned performance-enhancing drugs to a sportsman.

The Culture, Media and Sport Secretary said he was “shocked and deeply concerned” by reports in The Sunday Times that the doctor, named by the newspaper as Dr Mark Bonar, had been secretly filmed allegedly discussing working with numerous professional athletes who used banned treatments.

London-based Dr Bonar denied the allegations when they were put to him by the newspaper and said he had not breached rules laid out by the General Medical Council (GMC).

According to The Sunday Times, UK Anti-Doping (UKAD), the publicly-funded watchdog, was given “evidence” of the activities two years ago but failed to take action.

UKAD officials confirmed they received information from the sportsman, however the body said the doctor fell outside their jurisdiction and they did not believe there were grounds to refer the case to the GMC.

Mr Whittingdale said: “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. Once again, I am grateful to the excellent investigative journalism by The Sunday Times for bringing these apparent abuses to light.

“I 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.

“There is no room for complacency in the fight against doping and the Government is already 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.”

UKAD chief executive, Nicole Sapstead said the watchdog was “deeply concerned and shocked” by the allegations made in The Sunday Times.

She acknowledged that UKAD had received allegations involving Dr Bonar in April and May 2014 during interviews with the sportsman, who has not been named.

“Following those interviews and an investigation, UKAD found that there was nothing to indicate that Dr Bonar was governed by a sport and UKAD had no other intelligence to corroborate the sportsman’s allegations,” Ms Sapstead said.

UKAD recommended the sportsman gather more information and pass it on to the GMC, the doctors’ regulator, “if appropriate”.

In October 2014 the sportsman supplied UKAD with “handwritten prescriptions” that he said had been issued by Dr Bonar.

The notes were given to an independent medical expert for analysis.

“After assessing all the evidence, as per the National Intelligence Model, UKAD did not believe that there were grounds, at that point, to refer the case to the GMC,” Ms Sapstead said.

UKAD chairman David Kenworthy said an independent review of the allegations against it would be conducted “as soon as possible”, to examine the information passed to them in 2014 and to discern if the proper procedures were followed.

“UKAD is a publicly funded body and it is correct that it be held to account for any actions it takes. That accountability rests with the independent board,” he said.

The watchdog said it would not comment any further on the issue.

Former UK Sport anti-doping chief Michele Verroken admitted the allegations left her feeling “real frustration”.

Verroken, founding director of the Sporting Integrity Consultancy, told BBC Radio 5 Live: “This is perhaps an example of how sportsmen are still quite vulnerable to people being able to make available substances or suggest that they do have those sorts of associations. It’s a sense of real frustration.”

Verroken, the former director of ethics and anti-doping at UK Sport, admitted that more could be done to pass on information between professional organisations.

“Where there are others outside of sport we want them to be dealt with by their professional associations and that really is more about how we pass on information to professional associations for them to deal with and perhaps that isn’t a judgement that sports organisations should take,” she said.

“We need that partnership with the professional organisations, not only the medical profession, certainly sports scientists have been found wanting too, we have to make sure we have got that professional respect going on.

“I’m not sure that we’d want sport responsible for taking out investigations into other professions. It is probably one more of mutual respect. It is the obligation to pass on (information) and I think that’s probably the issue.”

When asked if football could be regarded as drug-free, Verroken said: “I don’t think we should be naive about any sport. No matter how much testing is done we might never know. That is why anti-doping almost is requesting an open-ended cheque. We have to find a tolerance level for this and find out how much we can do that will make any real difference to whatever we can find.”

Niall Dickson, chief executive of the General Medical Council, said: “I would like to thank the Sunday Times for bringing these issues to our attention.

“These are serious allegations and we will follow them up as a matter of urgency. We expect all doctors to follow our guidance — if they fail to do so they are putting their right to practise in jeopardy.

“Dr Bonar does not currently hold a licence and is therefore unable to practise medicine in the UK.

“Any doctor without a licence who continues to carry out the privileged duties of a doctor is committing a serious breach of our guidance, and potentially a criminal offence.”

President of the World Anti-Doping Agency Craig Reedie has backed calls for a full investigation, insisting it is difficult to apportion blame until all the evidence has been presented.

“I understand there are calls for an enquiry by the government and I am sure UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) will do their own enquiry and they will be given all the evidence so we can get to the bottom of this,” he told Radio 5 Live’s Sportsweek programme.

“I think it is best to wait for UKAD to do their investigation so we have full knowledge of the facts

“My own thought is if they had sufficient information (in 2012) they would have acted.

“Football will want to know what has happened, details of the evidence and if there is evidence they will act on it.

“UKAD actually do a lot of testing for the football authorities. I think there is probably enough in the high-profile leagues in England, I question whether there is enough in the peripheral leagues.”

Former sports minister Hugh Robertson said while there were often rumours of doping during his time in office there was never any credible information.

“While I was a minister there was constant innuendo that this may or may not be happening,” he said.

“I think the sensible thing to do now is to have a specific investigation into these allegations.”

He also believes football, in particular, needs to have a rigorous testing programme which cannot be open to question.

“It needs to have absolutely world-leading dope-testing around it in order to protect the integrity of the competition,” he added.