Easy answers first - NO NIGHT OR IMC ON THE NPPL (SEP). It is a basic Day VFR licence.
Your allegations of fraudulent practice by local GPs are most worrying. Perhaps I should ask you to contact Simon Janvrin (Head of CAA Med) at the CAA and outline your experiences.
Regarding FI revalidations, until comparatively recently I was highly sceptical of the FIEs' concerns about the previous revalidation requirements. But having seem how minimal both the knowledge and interest were from some FIs at a recent seminar, I now have to concede that the dismal standard of some makes a requirement for alternate mandatory revalidations by test inevitable. But the test fee, aeroplane hire charge and FIE's expenses won't make that cheap for some.