Cookies
Most websites you visit will use cookies in order to improve your user experience. Cookies enable a website to ‘remember’ you, either for the duration of your visit (using a ‘session cookie’) or for repeat visits (using a ‘persistent cookie’).
What are cookies?
A cookie consists of information downloaded to your computer and stored on the computer’s hard drive. Any cookies that we use will not identify you personally; they consist of statistical data. This statistical data identifies no personal details whatsoever.
Cookies are sent by a web server to a web browser and stored by the browser. This enables the web server to identify and track the web browser.
These are some of the ways in which cookies can improve services for you:
- recognising that you may already have given a username and password, so you don't need to do it for every web page you request;
- ensuring you don't have to give the same information several times during one task;
- allowing for the analysis of anonymous data, for example the number of users accessing a service; and
- through this analysis, helping to ensure popular services can be made easier and faster to use.
What’s in a cookie?
A cookie is a simple text file stored on your device. It contains some anonymous information such as a unique identifier and the site name, and some digits and numbers.
How do we use cookies?
This website and some of the tools and services it links to use a number of cookies. Some of these cookies are essential to using the services.
The cookies are classified in three categories, upon their functions:
- Strictly necessary cookies
- Performance cookies
- Functionality cookies
Strictly Necessary Cookies
These are cookies are essential to our website in order to enable you to use the features. Without these, our website will not function correctly, and you may be unable to use it. Accepting strictly necessary cookies is a condition of using our website.
Performance Cookies
To help monitor the uptime and response rates of our website and to detect any downtime to mitigate against this we use New Relic.
To help us meet the needs of our users, we use Google Analytics to collect information about how people use the site.
Google Analytics stores information about what pages you visit, how long you are on the website, how you got here and what you click on. Through this, we cannot identify who you are and do not collect or store your personal details such as your name or address.
We do not allow Google to use or share any information we collect with other third parties.
Further information on cookies set by Google Analytics
Social Media cookies
We are active on a range of social media platforms. Please note we have no control over the use of cookies on these third party sites. For more information on the privacy policies for the social media sites please click on the relevant links below:
How can you manage cookies?
You can easily adjust the cookie settings on your computer if you wish. You can modify your web browser so that it notifies you when cookies are sent to it, or you can refuse cookies altogether. You can also delete cookies that have already been set. The ‘Help’ function within your browser should tell you how you can restrict or block cookies. Alternatively, you may wish to visit www.aboutcookies.org to find out how to do this on a variety of desktop browsers.
If you are using a mobile phone and would like information on how to restrict or block cookies, refer to your handset manual.