Report on Annual Expenditures for Travel, Hospitality, Conferences and Events for fiscal year ending March 31, 2014

As required by the Treasury Board Directive on Travel, Hospitality Conferences and Event Expenditures, this report provides information on the total annual expenditures for each of travel, hospitality, conferences and events for the RCMP External Review Committee (ERC) for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2014. 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, conferences and events incurred by federal departments and agencies are related to supporting departmental mandate(s) and the government's priorities.

In particular, for the ERC, this includes the delivery of the following core program: Independent and impartial case review.

The ERC is an independent and impartial agency that aims to promote fair and equitable labour relations within the RCMP, in accordance with applicable principles of law. To this end the ERC conducts an independent review of appeals in disciplinary, and discharge and demotion matters, as well as certain categories of grievances that are referred to it pursuant to s. 33 of the RCMP Act and s. 36 of the RCMP Regulations. The ERC's jurisdiction is restricted to employment and labour matters that relate to regular members and civilian members of the RCMP only.

Total annual expenditures for travel, hospitality, conferences and events of the ERC are summarized below:

(*) The ERC is an independent agency which reports to Parliament through the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness; it does not have any expenditure in this category.

Significant variances compared to the previous fiscal year

Compared to fiscal year 2012-13, the ERC saw a decrease of 53% in total spending on travel, hospitality, conferences and events for fiscal year 2013-14, including through the implementation of controls to reduce travel expenditures and by maximizing the use of technology such as teleconferencing and videoconferencing.