Re training and organisations paying lip service to LPC standards and the AD limits in a 22's POH, i'm quite sure it happens, but maybe not as much as it did (paradoxically, if incidents are on the increase, but maybe that's your point). I've seen many a low time, naively optimistic SFH'er turned away when the Wx has been marginal, particularly on gusty days, much to their dismay.
If a pilot is a familiar face and 'known' to the testing org as an experienced/competent pilot, then inevitably the LPC is more likely to be a formality than if the pilot is either unknown, or known to be inexperienced/incompetent. If complacency is creeping in across the board regardless, then that definitely is a worry.