(1)This section applies where—
(a)the Secretary of State has given an undertaking to a publicly owned company to make payments to that company or a subsidiary of that company; and
(b)it appears to him that (apart from section 21(8)) the financial responsibilities of the NDA under Chapter 1 of this Part would make it unnecessary for those amounts to be paid.
(2)The Secretary of State may extinguish the undertaking, and every liability of his that has arisen under the undertaking, with effect from such date as he may notify to the other parties to it.
(3)Nothing in this section authorises the extinguishment of an undertaking at a time when the company to whom payments would fall to be made under the undertaking is not publicly owned.
(4)The extinguishment of an undertaking under this section shall neither require nor enable any sum to be brought into account in any person’s case for the purposes of corporation tax.
(5)In this section “undertaking” includes any agreement in which an undertaking to make payments is contained.