Burying the bad news?

If true, the accusations in the Sunday Telegraph are disturbing. Already under fire from journalists for releasing all its important research documents in one big lump on the last Thursday of every month - the so-called "research Thursday" - it is now reported that publication of research is being held back.

There was no "research Thursday" last month. Tom Harper and Ben Leapman write that Reid is accused of burying bad news by blocking research:

The Home Office has halted the release of potentially embarrassing research, prompting allegations of a spin operation to "bury bad news". John Reid, the Home Secretary, has ordered a "pause" in the publication of government-funded studies on crime, immigration and prisons.

The move affects research commissioned by the Home Office and carried out by leading academics. One of the delayed papers, a gun crime study by Prof Chris Lewis of Portsmouth University, was set to highlight the ease with which criminals can obtain firearms.

Sources said the findings of the £80,000 project were ready last week when its authors were told that publication had been postponed because of a "moratorium" on research.

Prof Tim Hope, a criminologist at Keele University who has also carried out research for the Home Office, said he was "shocked" by the move. He said: "This is an own goal. The Government is so jumpy it often suppresses research that is not even damaging."

The row will revive memories of Jo Moore, the former Labour spin doctor, who described September 11 2001, the day of the terror attacks in America, as "a good day to bury bad news".

Normally, the Home Office publishes research papers on the last Thursday of each month. But last week, "research Thursday" was cancelled. No new work is being commissioned and, controversially, projects already under way are also affected.

The Home Office said the decision was taken because Mr Reid has ordered a broad review of his department's shape and goals after describing it as "not fit for purpose".

A spokesman said: "There's a pause while we reaffirm what the department's main objectives are. Research has got to feed into policy and we want to do research into high-priority areas."

But the spokesman claimed that the Lewis paper was still being checked, and insisted: "If someone is in the middle of a research project, we are not stopping it."

David Davis, the shadow home secretary, said: "John Reid has a duty to release to the public research that the taxpayer has paid for and not to try to bury embarrassing news until it suits him. It is long past time that the Government put public protection before spin."

Recent Home Office research has shown that pensioners are more likely to die after a break-in and that community support officers make no difference to crime levels.

Mr Reid is a political heavyweight with an eye for avoiding bad news stories. But when he took over at the Home Office in May he pledged that the public had a "right" to be informed and that "information should no longer remain the exclusive preserve of officialdom".

However, critics pointed to the way in which the Home Office slipped out the announcement that one of the 1,013 wrongly freed foreign prisoners had gone on to commit murder. It emerged in the fifth page of a six-page letter, released on the same day as the Zahid Mubarek murder inquiry report - thus ensuring minimal publicity.

The Home Office spends £20 million a year on independent research.

Taxpayers have a right to read publicly-funded research, both that whose findings support government policy and those reports which don't. Departments or Ministers who ignore - or supress - the evidence are bound to adopt less effective policies than those who use it. (Hat tip: Tim Worstall).

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But the spokesman claimed that the Lewis paper was still being checked, and insisted: "If someone is in the middle of a research project, we are not stopping it

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However, critics pointed to the way in which the Home Office slipped out the announcement that one of the 1,013 wrongly freed foreign prisoners had gone on to commit murder. It emerged in the fifth page of a six-page letter, released on the same day as the Zahid Mubarek murder inquiry report - thus ensuring minimal publicity.