UK Sport won’t ask Team Sky and British Cycling to pay for Jiffy Bag probe

UK Sport has said that it will not ask for Team Sky and British Cycling to help pay for the cost of the UK Anti-doping (UKAD) investigation regarding the Jiffy Bag containing medicine for Sir Bradley Wiggins.

In November, the investigation concluded that neither the governing body nor the UCI WorldTour outfit would face charges since it was impossible to establish what had been in the package.

It had been delivered by British Cycling employee Simon Cope to Team Sky doctor Richard Freeman at the 2011 Criterium du Dauphiné and contained medicine for use by Wiggins.

> Ukad confirms Team Sky and British Cycling will not face charges over Jiffy bag delivered to Sir Bradley Wiggins at 2011 Criterium du Dauphiné

In March, a hard-hitting report from a parliamentary committee examining combatting doping in sport said that UK Sport needed to assess how much Team Sky and British Cycling should help pay the costs of the probe because the absence of accurate records made it “longer and harder” than necessary.

> Damning report from MPs slams Team Sky and Sir Bradley Wiggins

But speaking to BBC Sport today, the government agency’s chief executive Liz Nicholl said: "It's not for UK Sport to do that."

Nicholl, whose organisation oversees the provision of public funding, including National Lottery money, to Olympic and Paralympic sport, continued: "It's not a matter for UK Sport. It's rather complex because Team Sky doesn't receive any public funding.

"Our relationship is with British Cycling and what we've seen from them is an absolute commitment to having a very strong action plan which is going to deliver over and above from any recommendations they've received."

Over the past two years, British Cycling has made a series of changes at  managerial and board level, in part due to the UK Sport-ordered investigation into allegations of discrimination and bullying at the organisation.

Nicholl said that she believed British Cycling is now "heading in the right direction" and has "new values and new culture."