Ahead of CAMRA’s Members’ Weekend, AGM and Conference in Sheffield, the Order Paper and other important information relating to Conference have been published. 

Order Paper and Standing Orders 

Conference Procedures Committee met on Saturday 18 February to set the Order Paper. 

The motions are:

Motion 1

Proposers: National Executive 

This Conference agrees to adopt the policies in place at the start of this Conference, subject to any amendments to policy decided at this Conference. 

Motion 2

Proposers: Ralph Warrington and Paul Sanders 

This Conference instructs the National Executive to align the Campaign Policy on the marketing of beer and cider with the wording of paragraph 3.3 of the Portman Group Code of Practice on the Naming, Packaging and Promotion of Alcoholic Drinks: A drink’s name, its packaging and any promotional material or activity should not cause serious or widespread offence. 

Motion 3

Proposers: Scotland and Northern Ireland branches 

This Conference instructs the National Executive to amend the search facility on WhatPub to default to pubs and clubs offering real ale, cider or perry but that a search for all pubs and clubs should still be an option. 

Motion 4

Proposers: Rochdale, Oldham and Bury 

This Conference agrees the term craft beer is confusing and instructs the National Executive to ensure the term is no longer used in any CAMRA publications and communications. 

Motion 5

Proposers: Rochdale, Oldham and Bury 

This Conference notes that beer sold in key kegs may not be real ale. Accordingly, it instructs the National Executive to ensure this fact is widely known and to lobby the UK Government to introduce legislation to ensure clear indication is given at the point of dispense as to whether such beer is real ale and served without extraneous carbon dioxide. 

Motion 6

Proposers: Arun and Adur 

This Conference instructs the National Executive to include pub opening hours for entries from the Good Beer Guide 2025 onwards. 

Motion 7

Proposers: Peter Goddard and Christine Jane 

This Conference instructs the National Executive to produce a monthly newsletter, printed and mailed to all members (except any that opt out) updating members on campaigns and how they can get involved, together with details of CAMRA events plus real ale and cider festivals taking place nationally and regionally. 

Motion 8

Proposers: Colin Valentine and Steve Bury 

This Conference agrees the hustings of a candidate for the National Executive is a matter for them and the electorate. It therefore instructs the National Executive to cease the issuance of mandatory guidelines for candidates to which they must adhere in order for them to be published and to disband any committee or working group set up to enforce these guidelines or to vet hustings in any way. 

The 2023 Conference Standing Orders (which are the rules about how the debate will be conducted), to be proposed and adopted at the opening of Conference, can be downloaded here: https://www1-camra.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/16160158/Conference-Standing-Orders-2023-clean-version.docx

Policy Documents for adoption at Conference

Following a consultation period with members, final versions of CAMRA’s Policy Documents, for adoption at Conference, have also been published.

Those are online here: Policy & Important Documents - CAMRA - Campaign for Real Ale under the Policy Documents – for adoption at CAMRA Conference 2023 tab (member login required).

Amendments and Emergency Motions 

Members can now submit amendments to motions on the Order Paper for consideration by Conference Procedures Committee.  

Amendments will only be accepted during debate at Conference in exceptional circumstances. 

Emergency Motions are defined as those where the situation requiring the motion arose after the deadline for submission or ordinary motions (for 2023 Conference, Friday 17 February 2023) and could not have been anticipated before the deadline. 

Both Amendments and Emergency Motions should be submitted for consideration at the Conference Procedures Committee meeting on the eve of Conference, (7pm, Friday 21 April 2023 in Meeting Room 3 at the Octagon Centre).  

Where possible, please submit these in advance of the meeting to Ellie Hudspith, secretary to Conference Procedures Committee on ellie.hudspith@camra.org.uk

Conference Procedures Committee election 

Each year there are elections to Conference Procedures Committee, which has four ordinary members, elected for two-year terms. This year, there were three vacancies on the committee, two for two-year terms and one for a one-year term.

Two valid nominations were received, therefore Royce Hunt and Colin Valentine have been re-elected to the committee to serve two-year terms.

This means that there is still a vacancy for a one-year term to be filled. The committee agreed to fill this vacancy by co-option at their meeting on 21 April in Sheffield, and are inviting people to express an interest in joining.

The successful candidate does not necessarily need to be attending Conference in Sheffield, but will need to attend CAMRA’s Conference in 2024, which is being held in Dundee.

You can read more about Conference Procedures Committee’s work on the CAMRA website at www.camra.org.uk/cpc, and can express an interest in joining the committee by emailing Ellie Hudspith on ellie.hudspith@camra.org.uk  

All the information above is on the Conference Procedures Committee page on the CAMRA website (member login required): www.camra.org.uk/cpc  

Discussion threads for each of the motions on the Order Paper have been set up on Discourse, CAMRA’s online discussion forum, here: https://discourse.camra.org.uk/

Want to take part in CAMRA’s Conference but haven’t registered yet? You can find out about CAMRA’s AGM, Conference and Members’ Weekend and register to attend here Members' Weekend, AGM & Conference - CAMRA - Campaign for Real Ale