A STORMONT official had questioned whether a report on LGBT pupils' experiences in schools was shelved because it "didn't chime with the minister's priorities".
The claim relating to former DUP education minister Peter Weir was made by a department official in internal emails obtained by The Irish News.
But the Department of Education (DE) has insisted there is "no evidence" that Mr Weir or his office sought to prevent the report's publication.
The research was completed in April 2016 but only published in September this year after the department chose to release it in the absence of a Stormont executive.
It found two-thirds of LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) young people in Northern Ireland do not feel welcome or valued in their post-primary school.
And almost half said they had experienced bullying as a result of their sexuality or gender identity.
At the time, DE said "presentational and layout issues" had delayed giving the minister the report until last December.
It added that officials originally felt the report "should be cleared by a minister", but they later decided to publish "in light of the increasing volume of enquiries".
However, internal correspondence shows how the department had originally planned to publish the report in December last year without seeking ministerial approval.
In a briefing prepared for the minister, the research is described as "routine" and says the report will be published on the "week ending December 9 2016".
It asks Mr Weir to "note the briefing material and agree that officials should discuss actions with the Education Authority that would be beneficial for all pupils and teaching staff".
However, a separate email says the briefing has been "amended to seek clearance to publish the research report".
In May, a DE official sought an explanation for the report not being published following queries during a Northern Ireland Anti-Bullying Forum (NIABF) meeting.
They wrote: "Anything I can feed back to the NIABF at this point? I take it that the report just didn't chime with the minister's priorities for the department?"
Another staff member replied saying the research was submitted to the minister "for clearance, however, the assembly ran into difficulties and fell before we received a reply".
The internal correspondence was obtained by The Irish News through a Freedom of Information (FOI) request.
John O'Doherty, director of the Rainbow Project, said DE "must answer as to why the research was not published in December 2016 as planned".
The department said: "As the research was commissioned by a minister, it was the department's original view that the publication of the research should be cleared by a minister."
A spokeswoman said there is "no evidence" that Mr Weir or his office "sought to prevent the report's publication or change its stance to require ministerial approval".
"Mr Weir was considering the report prior to the dissolution of the assembly," she added.
The DUP did not respond to requests for a comment.
