Annual Report on Travel, Hospitality and Conference Expenditures
Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat 2019 - 2020
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 Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2020.
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:
Travel, hospitality and conference expenditures incurred by a federal department or agency relate to activities that support the department’s or agency’s mandate and the government’s priorities.
TBS’s travel, hospitality and conference expenditures support the delivery of the following core programs and services to Canadians:
• a challenge and oversight role, which includes supporting Cabinet decision-making, reporting on the government’s management and budgetary performance, and developing government wide management policies and directives
• a community enabling role, which involves helping organizations improve management performance and program results
• a leadership role, which involves driving and modelling excellence in public sector practices
In addition, as the employer for the public service, TBS incurs expenditures for travel and related items for labour management meetings with bargaining agents and other stakeholders, as well as for human resources litigation and hearings.
Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat Travel, Hospitality and Conference Expenditures for Year ending March 31, 2020
Expenditure category |
Expenditures for year ended March 31, 2020 ($ thousands) |
Expenditures for year ended March 31, 2019 ($ thousands) |
Variance ($ thousands) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Travel | |||
Operational activities |
$976.00 |
$1,198.00 |
-$222.00 |
Key stakeholders |
$524.00 |
$514.00 |
$10.00 |
Internal governance |
$22.00 |
$35.00 |
-$13.00 |
Training |
$400.00 |
$403.00 |
-$3.00 |
Other |
$101.00 |
$223.00 |
-$122.00 |
| A. Total travel | $2,023.00 |
$2,373.00 |
-$350.00 |
| B. Hospitality | $708.00 |
$148.00 |
$560.00 |
| C. Conference fees | $109.00 |
$38.00 |
$71.00 |
| Total [A+B+C] | $2,840.00 |
$2,559.00 |
$281.00 |
| International travel by minister and minister's staff (included in travel) | $0.00 |
$76.00 |
-$76.00 |
Explanation of significant variances compared with previous fiscal year
Total travel:
Compared to fiscal year 2018–19, departmental travel expenditures decreased by $348,000. The decrease was mainly due to:
• most travel plans being cancelled in Q4 due to the uncertainty created by the COVID 19 pandemic
• a reduction in speaking engagements during summer 2019
• reduced costs pertaining to the Next Gen pay system as user exposition activities were scheduled across Canada for the first year (2018) to seek feedback from employees
• a reduction due to the completion of the Phoenix stabilization initiative in 2018–19 in which there was no need to cover international costs as part of the Oracle contract
• a slight reduction in overall travel costs pertaining to staff training
• offsetting of expenditures to an increased number of hearings scheduled by the Federal Public Sector Labour Relations and Employment Board, as TBS’s Legal Services unit provides litigation services to more than 50 government departments and agencies
Hospitality:
Compared to fiscal year 2018–19, hospitality expenditures increased by $560,000. This increase was mainly due to:
• the Open Government Summit of 2019
• the hosting of the 30th Annual International Colloquium on Financial Management for National Governments
• various other small variances offsetting each other
Conference fees:
Compared to fiscal year 2018–19, conference expenditures increased by $71,000. This increase was mainly due to increased attendance at various conferences such as the Human Resources Professionals Association annual conference, the Emerging Leaders Conference, the Equity Diversity and Inclusion Forum, and digital policy conferences.Minister and minister’s exempt staff - International travel:
There was no international travel by the Minister and the Minister’s exempt staff in 2019–20.