Talk:Wilton Park

Some proposed changes to article
NB - I am an employee of Wilton Park, so I am suggesting an edit here, given the conflict of interest. The article is currently labelled as a stub - and is very sparse for an organisation that is an Executive Agency of the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office, has over 70 years of history and welcomes 3,000 people a year. I'd like to proposed the follow replacement article, expanding on the organisation's history, structure and operations. Most of the sources (see at the bottom) are from publicly available reports from HM Government (specifically the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office), and I have worked to keep the language neutral.

START OF CHANGES:

Wilton Park is an Executive Agency of the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) that provides a neutral and discreet international forum for strategic discussions. It organises over 70 events a year in the UK and overseas, bringing together representatives from the worlds of politics, business, academia, diplomacy, civil society and media. Wilton Park’s objective is to support the British Government in addressing and resolving global challenges of security, prosperity and justice, within the international system. Wilton Park maintains, develops and engages with the experts, policy makers and opinion makers through events with topical discussions designed to analyse and shape international opinion.

Wilton Park has been since 1991 an Executive Agency of the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office. It currently employs around 90 staff and organises conferences around 6 key themes: •	Conflict prevention, resolution and state building •	Defence and security •	Global economy •	Human rights, health, good governance and faith •	Multilateral institutions, key countries and regions •	Sustainable development and the environment Events are often developed in consultation with the FCO, from themes or ideas emerging from previous Wilton Park events or suggestions through participant feedback to create a series of dialogues that enable follow up and expansion on a topic over time. Wilton Park hosts approximately 50 participants to attend each event and Wilton Park hosts around 60 events per year, roughly 20% of which are convened overseas. Events at Wilton Park are residential and usually last between two and five days. They are organised and moderated by one of Wilton Park’s Programme Directors and contain addresses by keynote speakers. All events are held under the ‘Wilton Park Discussion Protocol’, which stipulates that conversations are to be frank, honest and non attributable to any one person.

As an Executive Agency of the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Wilton Park supports the British Government’s strategic foreign policy priorities and related national objectives through convening opinion formers and policy makers from around the world. These conferences seek to provide a neutral environment to address global challenges on subjects as diverse as climate change and nuclear non-proliferation.

Wilton Park states that its core objectives are to: i.	“Contribute to analysing, understanding and advancing the agenda on international issues; ii. Contribute to the achievement of Her Majesty’s Government’s (HMG) priorities and inform the policymaking of HMG and the international community; and iii. Support the FCO in pursuit of its objectives.” The core objectives are addressed in Wilton Park’s 7 strategic objectives: i.	Reinforcing the unique role of Britain in the World ii. Convening Power iii. Active Neutrality iv. Excellence in Facilitation v.	Rapid Response vi. Culture of continuous improvement vii. Assets Utilisation These core objectives support the achievement of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s Single Departmental Plan.

Sir Heinz Koeppler, a German Jewish refugee, developed the thinking for what would be Wilton Park in 1943 while working in the Political Warfare Executive, dealing with propaganda and disinformation broadcast to Germany from London. Koeppler was also the secretary for a joint committee between the Foreign Office, the BBC and the Ministry of Information, tasked with preparing educational and information services to be set up after the war. It was in this context that Koeppler came to construct the purpose and mission of what would become Wilton Park. Koeppler became the first Warden of Wilton Park and continued in the role until his retirement in 1977. He wanted the atmosphere at Wilton Park to resemble a residential university, rather than a prison, and wanted to allow men and women to “look at German problems from outside Germany.” Wilton Park took its name from the Wilton Park Estate in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, which was used as a prisoner of war and re-education centre after World War II. Wilton Park began in 1946 as part of Winston Churchill’s initiative to rebuild peace and democracy in Europe after the war. Between 1946 and 1948 approximately 4,500 Germans attended screening sessions and reeducation classes there. The classes focused around discussions on democratic processes between participants and visiting speakers including Labour Party Minister Richard Crossman, Philosopher Bertrand Russell, Social reformer William Beveridge, humanitarian publisher Victor Gollancz, Labour Party Minister Jennie Lee and the first sitting female Member of Parliament Nancy Astor. Many of those who attended Wilton Park would become leading figures in the rebuilding of post-war Germany, including future West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt, European Commissioner Ralf Dahrendorf and Mayor of Frankfurt am Main Willi Brundert. From 1947, participation at Wilton Park courses was opened up to other European countries, and from 1948 courses were opened to the general public after the last prisoner of war course took place in June 1948.

European Expansion and Global Participation
In 1950 Wilton Park moved to Wiston House, a 16th century Grade I listed building in the South Downs National Park, West Sussex. It was reopened under Warden Heinz Koeppler, who stated its new purpose was to host conferences “in citizenship, in politics, and in common European problems with the emphasis on realism and impartiality… [and] to make a positive contribution to the development of a European public opinion.” Conferences lasted two weeks and included study trips to London, with participants being encouraged were encouraged to “concentrate on the awkward and vital issues,” and to be “brief, trenchant, and if possible, witty.” In the mid-1950s, the British Government decided that Wilton Park should continue its works, but that it should do so with a much wider scope. A grant from the Ford Foundation in 1961 led to the involvement of North Americans, and then in 1980 the first representatives of the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc began attending conferences. Since 2007, Wilton Park has been hosting events outside of West Sussex in a range of different global arenas, including the United States, South Africa and the Middle East. As the scope of participants of conferences broadened to include member states of what would become the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, the focus of Wilton Park’s conference moved away from Europe towards a more global forum. With Britain’s accession to the European Economic Community (later the European Union) in 1973, Prime Minister Edward Heath agreed with French President Georges Pompidou that issues regarding the potential for further European enlargement should be discussed at a European Discussion Centre based at Wilton Park. As part of the legacy of Heinz Koeppler, Wilton Park works in partnership with the Sir Heinz Koeppler Trust, an independent registered UK charity set up by the late founder and warden which provides support to the activities of Wilton Park.

•	For Wilton Park’s 50th anniversary in 1996 HRH The Prince of Wales gave a keynote speech on ‘A Sense of the Sacred: Building Bridges Between Islam and the West’. Other notable speakers have included Dr. Hans-Jochen Vogel, Radoslaw Sikorski, Linas Linkevičius, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Ahmet Davutoğlu, Sameh Shoukry, Lakshmi Puri, Abdullah Gül, Louise Arbour, David Miliband, Bob Geldof, Simon McDonald and Macky Sall. •	In 2012 Wilton Park launched the British Government’s initiative to prevent sexual violence in conflict. The event was attended by the then Foreign Secretary William Hague and Special Envoy to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Angelina Jolie. Wilton Park has continued to host meetings of the UK Government’s ‘Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative’ launched as part of the initial event in 2012, including one attended by HRH The Countess of Wessex in February 2019. •	Wilton Park shortlists the nominees for the annual Marsh Award for peacemaking and peacekeeping which is then put forward to the Marsh Christian Trust for final judging. Previous winners have included Farida Khalaf and Angela Lakor. •	Every year Wilton Park runs a 5-day ‘British German Forum’ for young British and German citizens. Initiated by West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in 1985, it is designed to provide a space in which participants can network, share ideas and gain inspiration. Former participants include Peter Wittig, Carl Miller, Simon Anholt and Simon McDonald. •	Wilton Park hosts the annual ‘Caribbean 2030 Leaders Network’, a 70 strong network of individuals in the Caribbean who use Wilton Park as a platform to network and discuss change throughout the region. Members include Camillo Gonsalves, Frank Rainieri, Akierra Missick and Jean Alain Rodríguez Sánchez. •	The Wilton Park ‘Youth Dialogues’ are a series of events that bring together young people, government and other actors for ‘honest, inclusive conversations about young people and their role addressing local, regional and global challenges’.

The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs is responsible for all matters concerning Wilton Park. They appoint the Chair of the Wilton Park Board and allocate funding. The Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, working as the Principle Accounting Officer, is accountable to Parliament on behalf of Wilton Park and advises Ministers on issues regarding Wilton Park. The Chief Executive is appointed by the Permanent Under-Secretary, reports to the Chair of the Wilton Park Board and is responsible for ensuring good governance, the proper handling of public funds and the day to day operations of Wilton Park. Wilton Park is overseen by the Wilton Park Board and the Wilton Park Advisory Council, both headed by the Chair of Wilton Park. The Board oversees the leadership and direction of Wilton Park, meeting five times a year and consisting of four non-executives, one of whom is the chair, three Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) representatives and the CEO of Wilton Park. The Advisory Council ensures that Wilton Park maintains its intellectual standards and reputation. It consists of 17 members from a range of expertise who meet twice a year to review Wilton Park’s programmes. Wilton Park has a foundation based in the United States Wilton Park USA. It exists to support policy dialogue in the US and abroad on crucial issues of transatlantic concern.

As an Executive Agency of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), Wilton Park’s budgets are consolidated into those of its sponsor department. In 2017/18 Wilton Park’s overall revenue was approximately £5.9 million. This is broken down into 3 sources: 49% from the FCO, 38% from other sponsorship sources, and 13% from commercial events. An annual core grant from the FCO of approximately £750,000 is designed to assist in unlocking other funding sources for Wilton Park’s conferences. An additional Official Development Aid grant of approximately £1.4 million from the FCO may be used for events in line with the FCO Strategic Priorities and reflect a foreign policy-based approach to development assistance in accordance with the criteria set by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. All other income comes from either sponsorship for individual events awarded from Foreign Ministries, other government departments, Non-Governmental Organisations, academia, foundations and the private sector or through commercial events.

•	Executive Agency •	Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO)

•	https://www.wiltonpark.org.uk/ •	https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/wilton-park •	https://twitter.com/WiltonPark

JMatWiltonPark (talk) 17:15, 25 March 2020 (UTC)

Reply 25-MAR-2020

 * Text within the proposal was found to be insufficiently paraphrased from the source material. All additions to articles need to be written using an editor's own words and phrases.
 * Kindly redraft your proposal, taking care to ensure that information gleaned from sources is properly attributed and sufficiently paraphrased using your own words and phrases, and feel free to submit that draft below this post at your earliest convenience.

Regards, Spintendo  00:07, 26 March 2020 (UTC)
 * 1) The proposal contains a large amount of text which originates from primary sources. While these are acceptable, ideally references should originate from reliable, independent WP:SECONDARY sources.
 * 2) Duplicate citations ought to use WP:NAMEDREFS.
 * 3) Section headers that are used purely as examples for how the article should look ought to use the  template in order to limit their effects on the other legitimate headers which are/or/will be used within the talk page.

Thank you - have amended suggested text - please see below:

Wilton Park
Wilton Park is an Executive Agency of the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) that provides a neutral and discreet international forum for strategic discussions. It organises over 70 events a year in the UK and overseas, bringing together representatives from the worlds of politics, business, academia, diplomacy, civil society and media. Wilton Park’s objective is to support the British Government in addressing and resolving global challenges of security, prosperity and justice within the international system. Wilton Park maintains, develops and engages with the experts, policy makers and opinion makers through events with topical discussions designed to analyse and shape international opinion.

Wilton Park Today
Since 1999, Wilton Park has been an Executive Agency of the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office. It currently employs around 90 staff and organises events around 6 key themes: •	Conflict prevention, resolution and state building •	Defence and security •	Global economy •	Human rights, health, good governance and faith •	Multilateral institutions, key countries and regions •	Sustainable development and the environment Events are developed in consultation with partner organisations, often either the Foreign and Commonwealth Office or other UK government departments. Frequently, ideas for events will originate from previous Wilton Park events or feedback from participants, sometimes forming series to expand on a particular topic but also to allow policy to develop over time.: Wilton Park hosts around 60 events per year, of which roughly a fifth are overseas, bringing together around 50 participants per event.: Events at Wilton Park are residential and usually last between two and five days, organised and moderated by one of Wilton Park’s Programme Directors. Events are generally held under the ‘Wilton Park Discussion Protocol’, to encourage conversations to be frank and honest. This includes the stipulation that comments are non-attributable to any one person without their permission.:

Purpose
As an Executive Agency of the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Wilton Park supports the British Government’s strategic foreign policy priorities and related national objectives through convening opinion formers and policy makers from around the world. These dialogues seek to provide a neutral environment to analyse, understand and advance the agenda on global challenges on subjects ranging from climate change to nuclear non-proliferation.

Origins
Sir Heinz Koeppler, a German Jewish refugee, developed the thinking for what would be Wilton Park in 1943 while working in the Political Warfare Executive, working on propaganda and disinformation broadcasts to Germany from London. Koeppler was also the secretary for a joint committee between the Foreign Office, the BBC and the Ministry of Information, tasked with preparing educational and information services to be set up after World War II.: It was in this context that Koeppler came to construct the purpose and mission of what would become Wilton Park as a place for prisoners of war to examine rebuilding Germany’s democracy. Koeppler was the first Warden of Wilton Park, a role he would hold until his retirement in 1977. He sought to create an atmosphere at Wilton Park that resembled a residential university, rather than a prisoner of war camp, and wanted to allow the men and women attending to “look at German problems from outside Germany.” Wilton Park took its name from the Wilton Park Estate, a country estate in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire. The estate had been used as a prisoner of war camp and, immediately following the end of World War II, a re-education centre. Wilton Park began in 1946 as part of Winston Churchill’s initiative to rebuild peace and democracy in Europe after World War II. Between 1946 and 1948 approximately 4,500 Germans attended screening sessions and reeducation classes there. The classes focused around discussions on democratic processes between participants and visiting speakers including Labour Party Minister Richard Crossman, Philosopher Bertrand Russell, Social reformer William Beveridge, humanitarian publisher Victor Gollancz, Labour Party Minister Jennie Lee and the first sitting female Member of Parliament Nancy Astor. Many of those who attended Wilton Park would become leading figures in the rebuilding of post-war Germany, including future West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt, European Commissioner Ralf Dahrendorf and Mayor of Frankfurt am Main Willi Brundert. From 1947, other European nationalities participated in Wilton Park courses, and from 1948 courses were opened to the general public with the final prisoner of war course taking place in June 1948.

European Expansion and Global Participation
In 1950 Wilton Park moved to Wiston House, a 16th century Grade I listed building in the South Downs National Park, West Sussex. It was reopened under Warden Heinz Koeppler, who redefined its new purpose to host events “in citizenship, in politics, and in common European problems with the emphasis on realism and impartiality… [and] to make a positive contribution to the development of a European public opinion.”: Events typically lasted four weeks and included study trips, often to Parliament in London, with participants being encouraged to “concentrate on the awkward and vital issues,” and to be “brief, trenchant, and if possible, witty.”: In the mid-1950s, the scope of Wilton Park expanded, following a decision by the British Government that Wilton Park should continue its works. A grant from the Ford Foundation in 1961 led to the involvement of North Americans, while the arrival of participants from what would become the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development shifted the focus away from Europe towards more global forum.: In 1980, the first representatives of the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc began attending events. Since 2007, Wilton Park has been hosting events in a range of different global arenas, including the United States, South Africa and the Middle East. With Britain’s accession to the European Economic Community (later the European Union) in 1973, Prime Minister Edward Heath agreed with French President Georges Pompidou that issues regarding the potential for further European enlargement should be discussed at a European Discussion Centre based at Wilton Park. As part of the legacy of Heinz Koeppler, Wilton Park works with the Sir Heinz Koeppler Trust, an independent registered UK charity set up by the late founder which provides support to the activities of Wilton Park.

Notable Events
•	For Wilton Park’s 50th anniversary in 1996 HRH The Prince of Wales gave a keynote speech on ‘A Sense of the Sacred: Building Bridges Between Islam and the West’. Other notable speakers have included Dr. Hans-Jochen Vogel, Radoslaw Sikorski, Linas Linkevičius, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Ahmet Davutoğlu, Sameh Shoukry, Lakshmi Puri, Abdullah Gül, Louise Arbour, David Miliband, Bob Geldof, Simon McDonald and Macky Sall. •	In 2012 Wilton Park launched the British Government’s initiative to prevent sexual violence in conflict. The event was attended by the then Foreign Secretary William Hague and Special Envoy to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Angelina Jolie. Wilton Park has continued to host meetings of the UK Government’s ‘Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative’ launched as part of the initial event in 2012, including one attended by HRH The Countess of Wessex in February 2019. •	Wilton Park shortlists the nominees for the annual Marsh Award for peacemaking and peacekeeping which is then put forward to the Marsh Christian Trust for final judging. Previous winners have included Farida Khalaf and Angela Atim Lakor. •	Every year Wilton Park runs a 5-day ‘British German Forum’ for young British and German citizens. Initiated by West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in 1985, it is designed to provide a space for networking, the sharing of ideas and inspiration. Former participants include Peter Wittig, Carl Miller, Simon Anholt and Simon McDonald. •	Wilton Park hosts the annual ‘Caribbean 2030 Leaders Network,’ a 70 strong network of individuals in the Caribbean who use Wilton Park as a platform to network and discuss change throughout the region. Members include Camillo Gonsalves, Frank Rainieri, Akierra Missick and Jean Alain Rodríguez Sánchez. •	The Wilton Park ‘Youth Dialogues’ are a series of events bringing together young people, government and other actors for ‘honest, inclusive conversations about young people and their role addressing local, regional and global challenges’.

Structure
As an Executive Agency of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs holds ministerial responsibility for Wilton Park, including the appointment of the Chair of the Wilton Park Board and the allocation of funding. The Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, as the Principle Accounting Officer of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, is accountable to Parliament on behalf of Wilton Park and provides advice to ministers on issues regarding Wilton Park. The Permanent Under-Secretary also appoints the Chief Executive of Wilton Park. The Chief Executive reports to the Chair of the Wilton Park Board and is responsible for ensuring good governance, the proper handling of public funds and the day to day operations of Wilton Park. The Wilton Park Board and Wilton Park Advisory Council, both headed by the Chair of Wilton Park, oversee the organisation. The Board is responsible for the overall leadership and direction of Wilton Park, and consists of eight members: four non-executives (including the Chair of Wilton Park), three Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) representatives and the CEO of Wilton Park. The Advisory Council is responsible for Wilton Park’s intellectual standards and reputations, and consists of 17 members from a range of expertise who meet bianually to review the organisation’s programmes.: Wilton Park has a foundation based in the United States: Wilton Park USA Foundation. It exists to support policy dialogue in the US and elsewhere on issues of transatlantic concern.

Funding
As an Executive Agency of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), Wilton Park’s budgets are incorporated into the main Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s budget.: In 2017/18, overall revenue was approximately £5.9 million, from three sources: the FCO (49%), other sponsorship sources (38%) and commercial events (13%).: To facilitate in unlocking other funding sources for Wilton Park events, the organisation receives a core grant from the FCO of approximately £750,000 as well as an additional Official Development Assistance (ODA) grant of roughly £1.4 million. The ODA grant is used for events in line with the FCO Strategic Priorities, reflecting a foreign policy-based approach to development assistance in accordance with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s criteria.: Other income comes from sponsorship for individual events or through commercial events. Sponsorship sources include Foreign Ministries, other government departments, Non-Governmental Organisations, academia, foundations and the private sector.: