The centre of procurement expertise has signed up to The Buy Social Scotland Pledge (led by Social Enterprise Scotland) as part of its commitment to bolster efforts to work with the third sector.

Launched earlier this year, the Pledge brings together corporate businesses, SMEs, academic institutions, and public sector bodies who are looking to make a commitment to bring social enterprises into their supply chains.

Stephen Brannagan, Scotland Excel’s director of customer and business services, said: “I am delighted we have signed up to the Buy Social Scotland Pledge to build on the positive work we already do with the third sector. We work closely with our stakeholders and the Scottish Government to support the third sector and we were proud to put this into practice at our recent Supported Business event.

“At this we brought the public and third sectors together to forge valuable links and share the success stories of our signage and domestic furniture frameworks, which include a supported business and several third sector consortium suppliers. We will continue to build on the positive impact this has on communities.”

Chris Martin, CEO from Social Enterprise Scotland, said: “We are thrilled to welcome Scotland Excel to the Buy Social Pledge. Their participation underscores a strong commitment to fostering social and environmental impact through their procurement practices. By integrating social enterprises into their supply chain, Scotland Excel is setting a powerful example of how organisations can drive positive change and promote a more inclusive economy across Scotland.”

The Buy Social Scotland Pledge has five key commitments:

• Recognise Fair Work principles.
• Make a commitment towards a Net Zero Policy.
• Promote Social Enterprises within our own organisation’s procurement and supply chain.
• Agree to prompt payment to its suppliers.
• Commit to reporting annual spend with Social Enterprises.
• Scotland’s Bravest Manufacturing Company in Erskine is a supported business on Scotland Excel’s signage framework – having re-joined for the latest generation. Scotland
• Excel signed up to the Pledge during a recent site visit to Scotland’s Bravest.

Robert Lappin, assistant director at Scotland’s Bravest, added: “We are delighted to be on the framework again and we hope that it continues to drive more business. It played a big part in helping to establish our new enterprise back in 2019.

“We pride ourselves on our social impact and all that we have achieved to date for veterans and others with disabilities or from a disadvantage. To help us achieve more and to drive fairness in our society we need councils to get behind Scotland’s Bravest’ and other supported businesses/social enterprises like us.”