Report on Annual Expenditures for Travel, Hospitality and Conferences 2014-15

As required by the Treasury Board Directive on Travel, Hospitality, Conference and Event Expenditures, this report provides information on the total annual expenditures for each of travel, hospitality and conferences for the Courts Administration Service (CAS) for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2015. It also provides the variance 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 or information related to Prothonotaries and Deputy Judges, given their status as judicial officers.

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.

In particular, for CAS, this includes the delivery of the following core programs and services to Canadians:

• The provision of effective and efficient registry, judicial and corporate services to the Federal Court of Appeal, the Federal Court, the Court Martial Appeal Court of Canada and the Tax Court of Canada. Further details on CAS’ programs can be found in CAS’ 2014-15 Departmental Performance Report (DPR).

CAS’ total annual expenditures for travel, hospitality and conferences are summarized below:

TRAVEL

Public Servants: Compared to the prior fiscal year, CAS’ 2014-15 travel expenditures by public servants increased by $28 thousand (11%). This increase is mainly due to additional travel requirements in the area of registry services.

Non-Public Servants: Compared to the prior fiscal year, CAS’ 2014-15 travel expenditures by non-public servants increased by $97 thousand (693%). This increase is mainly due to government-wide coding changes, whereby travel that forms part of contract requirements is no longer coded to professional and special services; instead, it is coded to non-public servant travel, in accordance with the Treasury Board Directive on Travel, Hospitality, Conference and Event Expenditures.

HOSPITALITY

Compared to the prior fiscal year, CAS’ 2014-15 hospitality expenditures increased by $25 thousand (78%). This increase is mainly due to additional hospitality requirements in the area of judicial services.

CONFERENCE FEES

Compared to the prior fiscal year, CAS’ 2014-15 conference fees expenditures decreased by $1 thousand (-100%). This decrease is due to a decrease in conference attendance.