Report on Annual Expenditures for Travel, Hospitality and Conferences 2011-2012

As required by the Treasury Board Directive on the Management of Expenditures on Travel, Hospitality and Conferences, this report provides information on the total annual expenditures for each of travel, hospitality and conferences for the Department of National Defence (DND) for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2012. It also provides variance explanations from the previous year in each of these areas.

This information is updated annually and does not contain information withheld under the Access to Information Act or the Privacy Act.

Expenditures on travel, hospitality and conferences incurred by federal departments and agencies are for the most part directly related to supporting departmental mandate(s) and the government’s priorities.

Raison d’être and Responsibilities

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:

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.

Total annual expenditures for Travel, Hospitality and Conferences of the Department of national Defence are summarized below:

Department of National Defence
Report on Annual Expenditures for Travel, Hospitality and Conferences

Expenditure Category Expenditures for the year ending March 31, 2012
(a)
(in thousands of dollars)
Expenditures for the previous year ending March 31, 2011
(b)
(in thousands of dollars)
Variance
(a-b)
(in thousands of dollars)
Travel – Public Servants $405,772 $381,733 $24,039
Travel – Non-Public Servants $10,519 $13,553 -$3,034
International Travel by Minister and Minister’s Staff* $304 $216 $88
Total Travel $416,595 $395,502 $21,092
Hospitality $2,406 $2,795 -$389
Conference Fees $2,547 $4,434 -$1,887
TOTAL $421,548 $402,731 $18,817

(*) Includes international travel that is part of the department’s program.

Significant Variances Compared to the Previous Fiscal Year

TRAVEL:

  1. Public Servants: 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.
  2. Non-Public Servants: 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.
  3. Minister and Minister’s Staff: 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.

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.

CONFERENCES:

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.