I think that maybe the time has come for a review of the altimeter setting procedures used by military ATC in the UK. This thread already highlights some areas where the current procedures do not seem to be best practice or are liable to cause confusion.
As an example (and by know means wishing to cause embarrassment to stillin1) he mentions on page 1 of the thread that transit traffic in IMC will be told the Sector Safety Altitude based on the QFE. Surely this should be refered to as the Sector Safety Height? Whilst I think I know what he was getting at, it shows that confussion can easily arise (especially for simple minded pilots like myself).
A statement by whowhenwhy saying that traffic outside the pattern should be on an RPS when below TA is also illuminating. My dusty old MATS part 1 says that RPS should be used "at, or below 3000' amsl when outside controlled airspace and not in the vicinity of an aerodrome". Now, it seems to me that you have to be in the vicinity of an aerodrome in order to receive a LARS, otherwise there would be no radio/radar contact or the pilot would be outside of the operational area of the unit and hence the sevice would have been refused. Furthermore, if you have just transitted a zone (under QFE) I do not see how the next pressure setting given can be the RPS. How can you transit a zone and then not be in the vicinity of an aerodrome?
I fly in the South East of England where a lot of the airspace above me has its lower level defined as an altitude. The last setting I want to use is RPS which is the lowest FORECAST QNH and hence could put me closer to my work colleagues above me than I want to be on a day off!
As a parting thought, the controllers at Seaton TWR use QFE for circuit/landing traffic and QNH for transit traffic as do many other units around the country, so this type of operation is not without precendent and help and advice should be readily available.
As always, just my view.
G W-H