Legal background
Section 15(1) of the 1999 Act set out a £1,500 million financial limit to the overall amount of government financial assistance that can be provided to the CDC and its associated companies. For the purposes of that section, financial assistance consists of the aggregate of amounts outstanding in respect of the principal of loans (under section 9), the writing off of certain liabilities (section 14), certain amounts payable in connection with the issue or acquisition of securities (sections 16 and 17), as well as in respect of loans or advances made under sections 9 and 10 of the (now repealed) Commonwealth Development Corporation Act 1978.
	Section 1(2) of the Act amends section 15(1) of the 1999 Act by increasing the limit on government assistance available to the CDC and its associated companies to £6,000 million. Section 1(3) of the Act makes amendments to enable the Secretary of State to increase, by statutory instrument, the limit in section 15(1) of the 1999 Act up to £12,000 million.