Scotland Office Minister Kirsty McNeill has visited Scotland’s Bravest Manufacturing Company (SBMC) in Bishopton, Renfrewshire, meeting veterans employed at the signage social enterprise. The visit, published by the UK Government on 10 November 2025 ahead of Remembrance and Armistice commemorations, highlighted SBMC’s role in supporting military-to-civilian transitions.
SBMC operates as a division of Royal British Legion Industries (RBLI), supplying road, rail and commercial signs to public and private clients. The enterprise won The King’s Award for Enterprise in April 2023 in the Promoting Opportunity (through social mobility) category, recognition that supports its access to supply chains and underscores its employment model for veterans and disabled people.
According to the UK Government notice, SBMC’s workforce is largely drawn from the Armed Forces community and their families; profits are reinvested into RBLI’s mental health and accommodation services. Clients include Bear Scotland and several public bodies, with SBMC cited as principal signage supplier to Bear Scotland. For commissioning teams, this indicates a mature, quality-assured producer able to meet statutory signage standards within regulated sectors.
The Scottish Government’s procurement framework places social impact within statutory duties. Under the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014, contracting authorities must consider community benefit requirements for regulated procurements and, for contracts at or above £4 million, explicitly consider such requirements and state their approach in notices and award documentation. Guidance confirms an outcomes-based approach rather than monetising social value metrics.
Beyond community benefits, Scotland’s rules enable reserving competitions for supported businesses-organisations whose main aim is the social and professional integration of disabled or disadvantaged people and where at least 30% of employees meet that criterion. Regulation 21 of the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015 provides the legal basis; Scottish Procurement refreshed buyer guidance in 2025 and operates a national Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS) to route spend to supported businesses.
SBMC has been described by Scotland Excel as a supported business and was awarded a place on the national road signage framework used by councils. For contracting authorities, this provides a compliant pathway-via a framework call-off or the supported-business DPS-to direct spend to an employer of veterans while meeting statutory procurement duties on social value and reporting.
Cross-border buyers should note regime differences. The UK Procurement Act 2023 applies across the UK but generally not to devolved Scottish authorities; Scotland continues to operate under its own procurement legislation. UK reserved bodies purchasing in Scotland may apply the Act, while devolved authorities remain under Scottish rules. This matters for social value question sets and contract management, with the 2025 Social Value Model (PPN 002) replacing PPN 06/20 for central government from October 2025.
For workforce policy, the Office for Veterans’ Affairs expanded career support in 2025 through Op ASCEND, delivered with the Forces Employment Charity. The programme offers employment advice and sector pathways across the UK, complementing employer-led recruitment of veterans and creating a clearer pipeline into organisations such as SBMC.
The evidence base for targeted employment support in Scotland is longstanding. Research funded by Forces in Mind Trust shows persistent links between poorer outcomes and deprivation among some cohorts of Scottish veterans, while earlier Combat Stress analysis reported elevated deprivation risks among help‑seeking veterans in Scotland relative to the rest of the UK. SBMC’s model-paid employment with training and support-is designed to mitigate these barriers.
Social value practice in Scotland emphasises clear outcomes that are proportionate to the subject matter of the contract. For public buyers procuring signage or allied services, reserving suitable lots for supported businesses, or embedding employment and skills outcomes through community benefits, offers a compliant route to deliver visible results for veterans and people with disabilities while maintaining value for money and technical standards.
For Tier 1 contractors and public bodies working on trunk roads, rail and local infrastructure, the policy direction is to move social value commitments from bid promises into contract schedules and KPIs, with delivery monitored throughout the contract term. Alignment with either the Scottish outcomes approach or, where applicable to UK bodies, the updated Social Value Model helps evidence delivery against corporate and statutory duties.
The King’s Award accreditation provides reputational assurance for SBMC and signals to procurement teams that Promoting Opportunity through employment and progression is being achieved in practice. McNeill’s visit, set against Remembrance week, doubles as a reminder to commissioners that existing rules already enable spend with supported businesses at scale when planned early and documented transparently.