The Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee has published a scathing criticism of the companies and organisations involved in the Wembley stadium development.

The report, which was released on July 10, examined the controversial management of Wembley stadium and was damning in its evaluation of the performance of Wembley National Stadium Ltd and Sport England.

Tracking the progress of the Wembley project since its inception in 1996, the Select Committee highlighted concerns surrounding the investment of £120m of lottery money in 1999, which was dependent upon the stadium having adequate provision for athletics. The involvement of lottery money raised a conflict of interest for WNSL, which remains a private company, the committee concluded: 'To regard WNSL as a 'private concern' when it was almost entirely founded upon a substantial grant of lottery money is outrageous.'

The committee said that the 'lack of transparency of the project' was a major concern, and that the funding, from various private and public sources, had been badly managed: 'To safeguard the lottery funds committed and to secure the appropriate use of additional public money, this is a project whose execution clearly should have met the highest of standards in accounting and tendering, but did not.'

Sport England was also attacked in the report, being labelled 'slack, slovenly and supine'. The committee said the lottery grant had been 'handed over prematurely' and that Sport England had subsequently failed to protect the investment. The report said Sport England had not sufficiently represented the public interest and that its agreement to the reduction of regular seats was 'a dereliction of duty.'

The report suggested that a compliance officer should be put in place to report on the performance and conduct of WNSL and that the processes of lottery funding should be changed, adding: 'the lessons to be learned [from the Wembley project] apply to all lottery funding and all lottery distributors.'

David Moffett, the chief executive of Sport England said: 'I have already conceded that there are lessons to be learned about the way complex projects such as Wembley are dealt with. I have today commissioned an internal report into all our dealings in the project, and the role that all partners played.'

Moffett added: 'Sport England has kept the project intact. To ask for our £120m lottery grant back would have condemned the Wembley project to failure. Our focus remains the protection of public funds and the development of the best stadium in the world at Wembley. We are close to making that objective a reality.'