Annual Report on Travel, Hospitality and Conference Expenditures
National Defence 2011 - 2012
As required by the Treasury Board Directive on Travel, Hospitality, Conference and Event Expenditures, this report provides information on travel, hospitality and conference expenditures for National Defence for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2012.
Travel, hospitality and conference expenditures incurred by a federal department or agency relate to activities that support the department or agency’s mandate and the government’s priorities.
Mandate:
The National Defence Act establishes DND and the Canadian Forces as separate entities, operating with an integrated National Defence Headquarters, as they pursue their primary responsibility of providing defence for Canada and Canadians. On behalf of the people of Canada, Defence stands ready to perform three key roles: defend Canada - by delivering excellence at home; defend North America - by being a strong and reliable partner with the United States in the defence of the continent; and contribute to International Peace and Security - by projecting leadership abroad.
The Defence mandate is carried out with the support of a group of related organizations and agencies within the portfolio of the Minister of National Defence. For further details on selected Defence Portfolio organizations, please refer to the DND Report on Plans and Priorities Section IV: Other Items of Interest – Selected Defence Portfolio HR and Financial Resources. For further information on the legislative framework within which Defence operates, please see the DND Report on Plans and Priorities Section IV: Other Items of Interest – Legislative Environment.
National Defence Travel, Hospitality and Conference Expenditures for Year ending March 31, 2012
Expenditure category |
Expenditures for year ended March 31, 2012 ($ thousands) |
Expenditures for year ended March 31, 2011 ($ thousands) |
Variance ($ thousands) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Travel | |||
Public Servants |
$405,772.00 |
$381,733.00 |
$24,039.00 |
Non-public Servants |
$10,519.00 |
$13,553.00 |
$24,039.00 |
| A. Total travel | $416,291.00 |
$381,733.00 |
-$3,034.00 |
| B. Hospitality | $2,406.00 |
$2,795.00 |
-$389.00 |
| C. Conference fees | $2,547.00 |
$4,434.00 |
-$1,887.00 |
| Total [A+B+C] | $421,244.00 |
$402,515.00 |
$18,729.00 |
| International travel by minister and minister's staff (included in travel) | $304.00 |
$216.00 |
$88.00 |
Explanation of significant variances compared with previous fiscal year
Total travel:
Compared to fiscal year 2010-11, departmental travel expenditures by non-public servants decreased mainly due to ongoing efforts within the department to find economies wherever possible; for such as utilizing alternate methods to face to face meetings (e.g. on-line meetings), which has resulted in a reduction in travel.
Compared to fiscal year 2010-11, departmental travel expenditures by public servants (including military) increased mainly due to international travel related to the support of overseas operations, e.g. the closure of Operation Athena (Kandahar, Afghanistan), the stand-up of Operation Attention (Kabul, Afghanistan) and Operation Mobile (Libya). There were also increases related to military foreign liaison travel directly attributable to the need for face to face contact with the Defence Attaché community within the accredited nations outside of the country to which they are posted.
Hospitality:
Compared to fiscal year 2010-11, departmental hospitality expenditures decreased mainly due to an ongoing effort to reduce and control hospitality costs across the board. Many traditional hospitality events were cancelled, combined or lessened in scope.
Conference fees:
Compared to fiscal year 2010-11, departmental conference expenditures decreased mainly due to an ongoing effort to reduce and control conference costs across the board, and explore alternate means of communicating and sharing knowledge within the various knowledge communities. For example, there has been greater use of SharePoint sessions and teleconferencing.Minister and minister’s exempt staff - International travel:
Compared to fiscal year 2010-11, departmental travel expenditures by the Minister and the Minister’s Staff increased mainly due to international travel related to the support of overseas operations, e.g. the closure of Operation Athena (Kandahar, Afghanistan), the stand-up of Operation Attention (Kabul, Afghanistan) and Operation Mobile (Libya). The Minister and his staff are also often required to travel to represent the Government of Canada in international military and diplomatic fora. There was no Associate Minister of National Defence in FY 2010-11; the reactivation of this office and its attendant workload accounts for nearly two thirds of the increase in FY 2011-12.