Ok chilli, we will have to agree to differ on that one.
This is just a US vs UK difference of convention, probably resulting from the differences in airspace system.
In the US, where any practical IFR flight requires an ATC clearance, it's usual to practise IAPs in VMC while maintaining VFR. That relieves ATC of the responsibility of separation from IFR flights, and the aircraft of some of the requirements of IFR flight. US ATS philosophy, built around class E where IFR is assumed to be able to see and avoid random VFR traffic, is comfortable with that.
In the UK, the operational difference between IFR and VFR in class G is less starkly defined, and tends to revolve around participation in a service. Placing yourself under the control of an Approach Control Unit by requesting practice approaches is taken as an implicit request for participation in (at least) procedural separation from other flights. While it's possible for practice approaches in VMC to be conducted under VFR, it's neither usual nor the default.