asked Her Majesty's Government:

What steps they are taking to reduce the volume of secondary legislation by repealing obsolete measures. [HL3043]

The Government take every opportunity to revoke previous instruments which have become obsolete when new secondary legislation is introduced. For example, the Climate Change Levy (General) (Amendment) Regulations 2007 (SI 2007/2903) revoked five spent instruments.

If an enabling Act, or the enabling section of the Act, is repealed, instruments made under it will lapse unless they are saved. Secondary legislation may also become spent, either because it was expressed to have effect only for a limited period, or because it no longer has any effect. Many instruments therefore cease to have effect without being specifically revoked.