CLEVELAND police authority has made an effort to set the record straight regarding concerns over the cost and length of time taken by Operation Lancet.

In its annual report, the authority says the special inquiry into alleged malpractice is the longest-running and largest frustration for both the authority and officers.

As the inquiry is ongoing, the authority is unable to comment on the facts surrounding Operation Lancet and says it has frequently tried to explain its difficult legal position.

The report says:

l The investigation was not prompted by the police authority, but by a senior police officer. In law it had no right to intervene in such an investigation.

l The investigation was being supervised by the police complaints commission and neither the authority nor the chief constable had any legal powers to intervene in the way that inquiry was conducted.

l Whilst the investigation was not launched and was not being conducted by the police authority, the law requires police authorities to meet the costs in major investigations of this kind.

The report goes on: "We met with the chairman of the Police Complaints Authority over 12 months ago and made clear our concern over the costs and length of time taken by the inquiry.

"We have also written to government ministers to complain about the lack of accountability of the PCA for the high and continually mounting costs of the inquiry and the open-ended nature of inquiries such as Lancet."

The authority says the government has now produced a consultation paper which discusses options for changing the way serious complaints against the police are investigated.

Cleveland police authority will consider this paper at a future meeting.