Serco to create significant opportunities for Scottish business

One of the UK’s leading service companies has this week committed to a significant expansion of its procurement in Scotland. Over the next three years, Serco intends to double its procurement spending from Scottish companies and to substantially increase the number of Scottish Small and Medium size Enterprises (SMEs) with which the company does business.

The commitment that the company is making today in Scotland will mean that over the next three years Serco aims to:

• Double our total procurement spend to the stage where Serco buys in excess of 60% of all its Scottish requirements from Scottish suppliers.
• Double the number of Scottish SMEs with whom we work from today’s figure of 25% to nearer 50%, meaning that one in every two of our SME’s will be a Scottish SME supplier.

Serco already has a major presence in Scotland. Today the company:

• Procures around £40m worth of supplies and services from more than 270 Scottish companies.
• Spends over £11m with Scottish Small and Medium size Enterprises (SMEs), which accounts for 30% of the total spend with Scottish businesses.
• Works with over 270 Scottish suppliers, of which three in every four (75%) are SMEs.
• Manages 11 major operations that provide vital services to communities and governments across the country.
• Employs around 2,800 people.

Commenting on the pledge, Angus Cockburn, chair of the Serco Scotland steering group committee and Serco’s Group Chief Financial Officer, said: “Today Serco already has a sizeable presence in Scotland, in terms of the size of our operations, the 2,800 people we employ and the range of vital services that we provide. The pledge that we are making today will present further opportunities for Scottish businesses. It is in our interest as much as anyone else’s to look after the communities in which we operate which is why we have gone to great lengths to add to the local economy, by employing local people and procuring from local companies to help us prosper.