Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what research her Department has commissioned from external bodies between September 2010 and December 2014 has not been published; when each such report was commissioned; what the nature of the research commissioned for each such report was; from whom each such research report was commissioned; what the value of each such commission was; on what date each such report was received by her Department; for what reason each such research report has not yet been published; and when she plans to publish each such report.

Details for all core Defra’s research projects including description, contractor, cost and publications, commissioned between September 2010 and December 2014 are published online at http://randd.defra.gov.uk/. Defra is committed to publishing the results of high quality research and contractors are encouraged to publish articles in scientific journals. Core Defra publishes final research reports online and exceptions tend to relate to risks to personal or national security or limitations identified by specialist reviewers. The department does not hold centrally a record of which exemption applies to individual research projects.