witnessed the expansion of the Office's jurisdiction to encompass 50 non-departmental public bodies (quangos). However, few referrals were made about complaints against these bodies. Although Barrowclough was no less busy than his predecessors in publicising the work of the Office, even with the extension of jurisdiction, the number of complaints received by the Office continued to drop. This raised questions about the way the Office was handling its caseload. In July 1985, Robin Maxwell-Hyslop MP put down an Early Day Motion which was critical of the performance of the Ombudsman, describing the Office as unacceptably slothful in the performance of its duties. The Select Committee invited Maxwell-Hyslop to give evidence on the case which moved him to table his motion and he did so, revealing that the case he referred took 15 months to complete. Maxwell-Hyslop said that the delay was intolerable, disgraceful and shameful; a letter received from Barrowclough was astonishingly complacent. Barrowclough rejected the accusation of slothfulness, noting that the staff had been working diligently and were working on other cases beside that referred by Maxwell-Hyslop. Barrowclough explained that the case in question was dealt with a section of the Office which was dealing with significant tax and agriculture cases. The Select Committee asked Barrowclough how the Office would cope with the difficulties of such lengthy investigations. A Cabinet Office review also followed. Barrowclough sought to recruit extra staff and transfer more cases between investigators to avoid bottlenecks. However, the average time taken to complete an investigation continued to lengthen, reaching 15 months by the end of 1989. The Cabinet Office review suggested a large degree of delegation and changes in investigation practice. Barrowclough maintained that the Parliamentary Commissioner Act 1967 required his personal involvement in each case. He insisted, against the criticism, that the Office maintain the highest standards of investigative thoroughness and reporting quality. When Barrowclough departed the Office in 1989, the casework was what he described as low volume, high density and given rigorous attention unlike that administered by comparable offices elsewhere. In handling health complaints, Barrowclough's tenure as Ombudsman was dominated by the challenges of the increasing volume of cases, growing criticism of the time taken to complete cases and the ongoing conundrum of how to satisfactorily to deal with complaints about family practitioners and matters of clinical judgment. These issues remained unresolved. He handled some health complaints of note during his tenure. A