Thanks WW - thanks also to one of your ATC colleagues I have sight of the whole sectorisation/level thing, and the 'Welsh' story was in some way anecdotal to reinforce the common occurrence of being given descent WELL before the 'economic' point (this was indeed inbound LBA) and when asked turned out to be 'when ready to be xxx at yyy before zzz' which was somewhat later. This is not to say that a large proportion of you guys and girls do not have a 'feel' for the profiles.
I feel partly guilty in hijacking
the thread away from the origin but it was really to try and explain to HT why we were prone to ask the question.
Re the 'rate' descent, maybe it needs to be looked at in the UK? Do Maas have different/better equipment that allows them to accurately predict required separation levels so a rate can be issued? I would bet a £ to a pinch of horse whatsit that in Maas airspace a large proportion of a/c ACTUALLY begin descent when cleared, if given a rate in the clearance. It always 'focusses' my mind and sub-consciously I must think - 'he/she has worked it out and wants that so it
must be now' - useful psychology maybe?