Last week I was delighted to join staff, students and guests at USW Newport to learn more about investment in the new HYDRA Innovation and Research Centre.

HYDRA enables police officers and other public service professionals to work on real-time scenarios to develop their decision-making skills and understand potential consequences of their actions.

At a time when there is such a high level of public concern about culture and standards in the public sector, this very timely investment will help to strengthen decision making and rebuild confidence in public sector organisations, including policing.

We, as the public, should expect the highest standards of behaviour from our public service professionals.

Recently, there have been a number of high-profile reports and incidents which evidence that, in some cases, standards have slipped well below an acceptable level.

The significant majority of professionals, staff and volunteers are dedicated public servants but we cannot ignore the actions of a minority (however small that minority is) who are not. We all need to call out unacceptable behaviours and we need to ensure that all of our employees are empowered to do this too. Our citizens should expect no less than this from us.

Discussion of these issues can help to support actions that foster cultural change and enhance community trust and confidence. These are discussions that I am keen to have across our communities and I look forward to discussing this further with representatives from across the public sector at the USW Culture in Public Service conference at the ICCW in June.

At the local level to better understand some of these issues look no further than the brilliant "Words Matter" exhibition at Gallery 57 (until March 28) in Newport which aims to challenge victim blaming and misogynistic narratives within the police and media.

This powerful and moving exhibition really highlights the continued need for change. Together we are stronger.