@HH
for a JAA PPL it is requiered to 5 hours of imc training, which should enable you to fly straight and level in clouds and to fly a shallow 180° turn to get out of the clouds. At least thats the way in germany, however it might be a bit different in the uk, as we have no such thing as an imc rating.
On the topic, i agree with IO540. Basic flying in imc is certainly not rocket science and imho the skill can be picked up pretty fast. And if you want to do any decent touring in europe you either have to bring a lot of time waiting for good weather or be able to decide what is flyable or not, whereas flyable can mean to complete a portion of the flight in technically vrf, but effectively imc, conditions. The key is to be well prepared so you are not inadvertently caught in conditions you cannot cope with. If you know what you're going into it's a whole different thing. Needless to say that a well equiped aircraft with autopilot and a decent gps helps a lot.
And with regard to position reports, if you ever happen to fly to north africa you'll know why something like a garmin430 with your route programmed in is a very nice thing to have...