Public Services and Procurement Canada Report on annual expenditures for travel, hospitality and conferences

As required by the Treasury Board Directive on Travel, Hospitality, Conference and Event Expenditures, this report provides information on the annual expenditures for each of travel, hospitality and conference fees for Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2016. It also provides the significant variance’s explanations from the previous fiscal 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 conference fees incurred by federal departments and agencies are related to activities supporting a departmental or agency mandate and the government’s priorities.

In particular, PSPC is a common service organization providing government departments, boards and agencies with support services for their programs that include:

  • Procurement
  • Office accommodation and facilities
  • Architectural and engineering services
  • Construction, maintenance and repair of public works and federal real property
  • Pay and pension services
  • Receiver General, treasury of Canada administration, and maintenance of the Accounts of Canada
  • Linguistic services
  • Industrial security services
  • Specialized programs, including government-wide applications and greening of government operations
Annual expenditures for travel, hospitality and conferences of Public Services and Procurement Canada (in thousands of dollars)
Expenditure category Expenditures for the year ending March 31, 2016 Expenditures for the previous year ending March 31, 2015 Change
Travel, public servants 11,250 10,427 823
Travel, non-public servants 5,473 4,282 1,191
Total travel 16,723 14,709 2,014
Hospitality 150 119 31
Conference fees 257 146 111
Total 17,130 14,974 2,156
International travel by Minister and Minister's staff (also included in non-public servant travel) 0 18 (18)

Significant variances compared with the previous fiscal year

This section provides a brief explanation of significant variances from the previous year’s annual expenditures for each category.

Travel

Public servants

Compared to fiscal year 2014–15, departmental travel expenditures by public servants increased, which is reflective of changes in requirements to travel. This is mainly due to an increase in construction and repair of new and existing federal infrastructure across Canada, including various buildings and assets, on behalf of other government departments.

Non-public servants

Compared to fiscal year 2014–15, departmental travel expenditures by non-public servants increased, which is reflective of changes in requirements to travel.  This is mainly due to an increase in construction and repair of new and existing federal infrastructure across Canada, including various buildings and assets, on behalf of other government departments.

Hospitality

Compared to fiscal year 2014–15, departmental hospitality expenditures increased, mainly due to costs incurred in support of consultation and engagement activities with key stakeholders and employees.

Conference fees

Compared to fiscal year 2014–15, departmental conference fees expenditures increased, mainly due to an increased participation in professional development workshops during the year.

Minister and Minister’s staff

International travel by Minister and Minister’s staff decreased compared to previous year. There were no international travel expenditures incurred in 2015–16 as the Minister and her staff did not travel abroad.