Sports minister Gerry Sutcliffe has confirmed that a new national drugs testing agency, provisionally called UK Anti-Doping, is set to be launched by the end of the year.

The national anti-doping organisation (NADO) will take on the testing and education responsibilities which are currently performed by the high performance sport agency, UK Sport. New powers are also set to be granted to the agency in a bid to ensure that Britain is at the forefront of anti-doping in sport in the run up to the London 2012 Olympic Games, with £7.2m to be invested in the NADO in 2010-11. It will be a 60 per cent increase on the current anti-doping budget of £4.5m.

UK Sport's board first proposed the new agency in 2007, and has put forward a detailed business plan to outline the organisation's functions, while also working in partnership with the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) to secure the required funding. Sutcliffe said: "The global fight against doping in sport has shifted and the move to a new, standalone NADO reflects that change. The NADO will build on the excellent work of UK Sport which has established us as a world leader in the field.

"We have already started to build relations with law enforcement agencies through a cross-department working group ensuring that the new NADO will be equipped with the powers and intelligence to stop cheats before they reach the start line." John Steele, chief executive of UK Sport, added: "The new NADO marks an exciting chapter in anti-doping in the UK, and we are sending out a clear statement of intent ahead of 2012 that doping in this country will not be tolerated."