The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has urged UK Sport to publish an action plan soon after the 2008 Beijing Games to clarify medal and individual sports performance targets for the London 2012 Games.

The recommendation comes after a report, titled Preparing for Sporting Success at the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and Beyond , identifies issues that could threaten the success of team GB in the Games.

One of the DCMS' and UK Sport's objectives, as signed off by the Olympic Board on 29 March 2006, is for Team GB to finish fourth in the Olympic medal table and at least second in the Paralympic medal table. Another is to achieve "sustained improvement" in all levels of sports in the UK, before, during and after the Games.

The report also highlights the lack of preparation to secure £100m of private-sector funding, 17 per cent of which is direct funding for sports. As the DCMS only put out a tender for a fundraising partner in November 2007, the PAC said, the funds may not materialise in time to benefit GB teams' chances of success in 2012.

The report claims that if the funding is not achieved it would "impact on UK Sport's strategy to deliver an elite sporting legacy from the Games and might also reduce the likelihood of achieving the GB teams' medal aspirations at London 2012."

The report also advised UK Sport to "take firm decisions on which sport to stop funding", in order to minimise the impact of any possible funding shortfall on medal performance in 2012 and on the longer term legacy for elite sport in the UK.

In response to the report, John Steele, UK Sport's chief executive, said that by December 2008 UK Sport will have finalised its investment levels and 2012 medal targets.

He added: "We have already progressed a number of the key recommendations contained within the report. We have already informed sports exactly how we will allocate funding post-Beijing; taking performance at the upcoming Games into account but also looking at the future potential of the sport."

UK Sport created Mission 2012, a year ago, to monitor and evaluate sports' progress against their performance ambitions and to resolve sport specific issues or challenges in the way of the Olympics. Steele added: "The process has already resulted in a number of 'quick wins' and is receiving increasingly positive responses from sports as it focuses on what needs to be done to meet the ambitious goals we have set ourselves for the Games."

In order for Team GB to finish fourth in the Olympic medal table and a second in the Paralympic medal table, UK Sport predicts it will need to double the number of gold medals from nine to at least 17.