Missing evidence : an inquiry into the delayed publication of government-commissioned research / Sir Stephen Sedley.

This inquiry was initiated following a spate of media stories in Britain about government research being suppressed or delayed, allegedly because the findings were politically awkward. The inquiry investigates the scale and significance of non-publication of government-commissioned research, including good and poor practice in dissemination and case studies of recent research projects. This report presents the findings and recommendations of the inquiry. Though the UK government spends around £2.5 billion a year on research for policy, it does not know how many studies it has commissioned or which of them have been published, and many departments are forced to use Google to track down their research.