 Wales is a beautiful and diverse place and each of its varied communities has a range of people from different cultures and backgrounds. Every day councils in Wales make decisions and deliver services people in their communities rely on. Those decisions and services need to respect and reflect all the cultures within the community to make everyone feel welcome and accepted. Councils can only serve the community through mutual respect, dignity and openness. That's where the Local Authority Ethical Standards framework comes in. To set standards for councillor behaviour so everyone knows how they should act as they work on the community's behalf. The Council's Code of Conduct is a part of the ethical framework. It's based on the minimum legal requirement in the Model Code of Conduct and every authority can develop it to suit their local protocols. Before councillors can take up their duties they must agree in writing to follow the code. Standards of councillor's behaviour are based on these principles. Selflessness, honesty, openness, accountability, leadership, objectivity, integrity. Everyone in public office or who delivers a service like county councils, town and community councils, fire and rescue authorities, national park authorities and many other public bodies must stick to these principles. What they mean for you is that councillors must balance their decision making in the public's best interest. We need to trust our councils so unless there's a reason to keep sensitive information secret you can see why they've made a decision and with what evidence. Councils must be truthful with the public about their actions including telling you how to complain if you need to. If someone has breached the code then they've acted against the principles that everyone in public life needs to follow and action needs to be taken to protect the trust for people within the council and the public's faith in councillors. If you think a councillor has breached the code then you can complain to the public services ombudsman for Wales. If they agree the code may have been breached and it's in the public interest to investigate then they'll make the right people aware and look into it. Your local council is there to serve the community and councillors are there to listen and act to create positive change. If you feel a councillor is falling short of the standards expected of them then use the process to speak out. Our communities and councils need to work together to make a better Wales for everyone.