LH2
Bold statement yes. And taken from personal experience.
Busy airspace. Yes you do not want GA and CAT mixing 'inadvertantly' with each other. It happens all the time. The latest occurance data reports ahs loads of examples. A quick call to D&D early on may prevent this. I assume you have a half million southern UK VFR map and see the amount of controlled airspace there is mixed with alot of GA airfields. Then ask a new student to navigate their way through the TMA's, CTA's and CTZ's. NOT BASIC STUFF AT ALL.
My god where do you get the idea that a GA pilot would be carrying spares and survival equipment for a flight over the Yorkshire Moors or Cairngorms is a little naive. If you go down over some ranges of hills in the UK you may not get picked up immediately but alot of people take that chance.
New PPL'ers who are not 'polished' are NOT MONKEYS. They are people who have passed a certain level of competancy but still need to learn, gain experience and look for guidance from Instructors etc. That was a terrible and ill-informed statement to make.
We do teach everything and the D&D use is a useful tool for all the reasons I explained earlier. I don't think that GPS use is part of the PPL. You said you have read 'on-track'.
I have never found the CAA publications in the negative way you do.
Giving a call to D&D may not be compulsory but it is common sense. For the PPL skills tests you only need to demonstrate a 180 turn in simulated IMC conditions. However, i bet most instructors give their students a broader level of that exercise when being trained.
Can I ask do you fly in the UK and what experience do you have.