After I had taken up the complaint they reconsidered and , accepting that they had not explained their policy and decision to the man , agreed to meet to discuss the matter with him .sx 72 .sx A final case concerned the sea and not the land .sx A group who provided a voluntary search and sea rescue facility off part of the south coast of England complained that they had been unfairly treated by HM Coastguard , an operational directorate within DTp .sx The Coastguard had cancelled an operational agreement under which the group's main boat was regarded as having the status of auxiliary Coastguard afloat and was permitted to use VHF channel zero , the Coastguard's private frequency , when assisting them in rescue operations .sx I did not uphold the main complaint but found shortcomings , for which DTp offered apologies , in the way in which the Coastguard had handled matters .sx 73 .sx This is a convenient point at which to record that two legislative changes in 1991 had an effect on my jurisdiction .sx The Road Traffic Act 1988 was amended by the Road Traffic ( Driver Licensing and Information Systems ) Act 1989 .sx The change meant that , as from 1 April 1991 , the Traffic Commissioners , who are outside my jurisdiction , ceased to be the licensing authority responsible for the issue of heavy goods vehicle licences but became statutory advisers to the Secretary of State for Transport , who took on that responsibility , on all matters concerning lorry and bus drivers' conduct .sx The effect as far as I am concerned is to bring some vehicle licensing matters which were formerly outside my jurisdiction within it .sx Secondly , the Road Traffic Act 1991 provides that the Traffic Director for London is subject to my jurisdiction , though I have not yet had a complaint referred to me .sx 74 .sx The first full year following the introduction by the Home Office of a new requests/complaints system on 25 September 1990 has resulted in no obvious change in the numbers of complaints from prisoners referred to me by Members of the House of Commons .sx The number increased slightly over the year before but I only felt justified in accepting five of them for investigation .sx The others were rejected either because there was a lack of any evidence of maladministration or because the complaint made was one outside my jurisdiction .sx 75 .sx I completed four investigations in 1991 , three into complaints from prisoners in England .sx One of them was a particularly wide-ranging complaint , alleging maladministration on the part of the prison authorities over such matters as the prisoner's confinement in a segregation unit , a change to his security classification , the removal of two newspaper cuttings from his personal property , the disclosure of personal information about him to fellow prisoners , the denial for more than six months of a request he had made to receive accumulated visits at a prison closer to his family , delay in arranging his transfer to another prison , the mislaying of a petition , and interference with his property , private cash , earnings and mail .sx I upheld some parts of the complaint and the Home Office offered an appropriate remedy .sx The two other cases both involved delay in dealing with petitions submitted by the prisoners concerned .sx I upheld one of them and found elements of maladministration in the other .sx The fourth complaint was made by a prisoner in Scotland who alleged unfair treatment by the Scottish Home and Health Department , part of the Scottish Office , and inaccuracies in a Ministerial letter .sx I did not uphold that complaint .sx 76 .sx As has been the consistent pattern in recent years , there was again a steady inflow of complaints about immigration and related matters .sx One of the complaints on which I reported during the year was submitted by the same firm of immigration consultants as were mentioned in paragraph 63 of my Annual Report for 1990 .sx This time the consultants contended that , as their client's passport had been endorsed to give him leave to remain in the United Kingdom until 31 November 1988 , a date which could never arrive , the client had been granted indefinite leave to remain .sx I upheld the complaint of unreasonable delay by the Home Office before they accepted that the client should be regarded as having been granted indefinite leave to remain , but found no evidence to support an accusation of " calculated and malicious delay " made by the consultants , an allegation which I castigated as unworthy .sx 77 .sx In another case an Israeli citizen complained after an interval that he had been kept waiting for excessive periods between interviews by immigration officers ; that an immigration officer had ignored his request for sustenance ; that , following refusal of leave to land , he had been kept overnight in inadequate and dirty accommodation , that security staff had ignored his need for medical attention and that immigration staff who had examined documents in his baggage had retained two music scores and five letters from his friends .sx My investigation revealed conflicting evidence on nearly all aspects of the complaint , which I did not find made out , though the Home Office tendered apologies if , as seemed possible , the complainant had not been offered an evening meal .sx In a further case , I did not uphold the main complaint that , while investigating a man's application for indefinite leave to remain in the United Kingdom , immigration officers had used racist and abusive language and had accused the man's wife of lying .sx However , I found that in omitting to interview the couple once they had complained about the officers' conduct to the Home Office , the Home Office's own investigation had been less thorough than it should have been .sx The Home Office have since revised their practice and the Immigration Service now interview a person who makes a serious complaint where that is practicable and they judge it right to do so .sx 78 .sx I also completed investigations into two cases in each of which it was alleged that the Home Office ( and also the Foreign and Commonwealth Office ) had mishandled an application for entry clearance to the United Kingdom made by the spouse of a British citizen living here .sx In each case I identified various shortcomings in the performance of both Departments , for which apologies were offered .sx Another type of complaint which I regularly encounter concerns delays in dealing with applications from persons living in this country for naturalisation as British citizens .sx I found elements of maladministration in each of the two cases on which I reported in 1991 .sx 79 .sx Two further reports which I made in 1991 concerned other areas of the Home Office's very wide-ranging responsibilities .sx In the first of them , I found that the Prisons Department had failed to consult the Department of the Environment and English Heritage , before erecting additional accommodation at a young offenders' institute located in an area scheduled as an ancient monument .sx I also found that , despite the strong criticism directed at them by one of my predecessors in 1981 for an earlier failure of this kind on the same site , the Home Office did not have in place effective guidance to staff and systematic checks to ensure that such cases were not mishandled .sx I strongly criticised the Home Office who confirmed they were taking various measures to improve and strengthen their procedures .sx 80 .sx The second case concerned alleged delay on the part of the Home Office in processing a claim for compensation for firearms surrendered under the Government Buy-In Scheme and the adequacy of the compensation offered for one of the weapons .sx I found no undue delay or material procedural errors on the part of the Home Office in their processing of the claim .sx However , as it seemed that one of the complainant's weapons might have been worth considerably more than the value suggested by the independent valuation which a registered firearms dealer had provided to the Home Office I myself took the trouble to obtain three further paper valuations - the weapon itself having earlier been destroyed in line with the requirements of the Scheme .sx Although those valuations tended to support the valuation originally tendered by the complainant , the Home Office declined to give him the benefit of the doubt because the condition of the weapon , an important factor in reaching the valuation , could no longer be positively established .sx As the destruction of the weapon had made it impossible for me to resolve the conflicting evidence as to its condition , I was unable to pursue the matter further on the complainant's behalf .sx 81 .sx In my last year's report I referred to an investigation I had carried out into the mishandling of a couple's concessionary TV licence application .sx Responsibility for issuing TV licences and collecting the revenue was transferred from the Home Office to the BBC on 1 April 1991 under the provisions of the Broadcasting Act 1990 .sx As the BBC are outside my jurisdiction , complaints about administrative actions taken on such matters after that date will no longer be subject to an independent investigation by me .sx There have been numerous such complaints over the years and one is still under investigation .sx 82 .sx In my last Annual Report I referred to an investigation I had made into the actions of the Scottish Legal Aid Board .sx In 1991 the administration of legal aid south of the border has engaged my attention .sx The Legal Aid Board have been within my jurisdiction since they took over responsibility for the administration of legal aid in England and Wales in April 1989 .sx I have encountered a small but steady flow of complaints .sx Two of the cases which I investigated last year involved the liaison arrangements between the Board and DSS which continues to be responsible in England and Wales for the assessment of a legal aid applicant's financial means .sx In both those cases poor communication between the Board and the Department added to the considerable difficulties experienced by complainants , although I did not find that either complainant had suffered financial loss as a result of actions taken by the Board .sx Both the Board and the Department assured me that energetic steps are now being taken to improve the necessary links between them .sx Regular review meetings to identify and resolve problem areas have now been introduced .sx 83 .sx It emerged during my investigation of a further complaint that the regulations governing the assessment by the Board of a solicitor's costs did not provide for a legally aided person to make representations to the Board about the costs claimed by the solicitor , even though that person might have a financial interest in the outcome by virtue of the contribution towards the costs in an action which he or she could be required to pay .sx I was glad to learn from the Chief Executive of the Board that the Civil Legal Aid ( General ) ( Amendment)(No 2 ) Regulations 1991 were being introduced to fill that lacuna .sx 84 .sx In paragraph 58 of my Annual Report for 1990 I referred to the welcome resolution by the coming into operation on 1 January 1991 of section 110 of the Courts and Legal Services Act 1990 of a longstanding jurisdictional problem which had inhibited the attempts of my predecessors to investigate complaints against the administrative actions of court staff in England and Wales .sx That section provides , broadly speaking , that I can investigate administrative actions taken by court or tribunal staff appointed by the Lord Chancellor unless the actions concerned are taken at the direction , or on the authority ( whether express or implied ) , of any person acting in a judicial capacity or in his capacity as a member of the tribunal .sx I alluded also to possible jurisdictional difficulties which might still be encountered but in 1991 at least they have not materialised .sx Equivalent actions taken by the staff of tribunals for which the Lord Chancellor is not responsible remain outside my jurisdiction .sx As I understand it , that is not because it is thought they should so remain but for the want of a suitable legislative vehicle which will enable the omission to be remedied .sx I hope that one will be identified soon for the anomaly is not one I find easy to explain .sx