Cookies are small text files which a website may put on your computer or mobile device when you first visit the website. The cookies will help the website recognise your device the next time you visit. Web beacons or other similar files can also do the same thing. We use the term “cookies” in this policy to refer to all files that collect information in this way.
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users of the website. This helps us to provide you with a good experience when you use the website and also allows us to improve the services we provide to you. On revisiting the website, we will be able to obtain information about your previous visits and about your computer including where available, your IP address, operating system and browser type, for system administration. This is statistical data about your browsing actions and patterns and does not identify you. For the same reason, we may obtain information about your general internet usage by using a cookie file which is stored on the hard drive of your computer.
We use the following cookies:
- Strictly necessary cookies. These are cookies that are essential in order to enable you to move around the website and use its features, such as accessing secure areas of the website. Disabling them may mean you are not able to access parts of our website.
- Analytical or performance cookies. We use these cookies to collect information about how visitors use the website, for instance which pages visitors go to most. This helps us to improve the way our website works, for example, by ensuring that users are finding what they are looking for easily. Some of these cookies are known as analytic cookies which allow us to monitor website traffic using industry accepted third parties. [If you do not use analytical or performance cookies, you can delete this policy entry].
- Functionality cookies. These cookies are used to recognise you when you return to our website and to remember changes you have made to things such as text size, fonts and other parts of the website you can change so we can personalise our content for you.
- Targeting cookies. We use these cookies to record your visit to our website, the pages you have visited and the links you have followed. We will use this information to make our website and the advertising displayed on it more relevant to your interests. We may share this information with third parties for this purpose.
For more details on the specific cookies we use, why we use them and when they will expire, please see Part 1 of Appendix 1 of this Cookie Policy.
Please note that third parties (such as advertising networks and providers of external services) may also use cookies on the website, over which we have no control. These cookies are likely to be analytical cookies, performance cookies or targeting cookies.
Most browsers accept cookies automatically, but you can change your cookie preferences by adjusting your browser settings to refuse the setting of all or some cookies if you prefer. You can usually do this by visiting the “options” or “preferences” menu on your browser. Please note, however, that if you do this and choose to block all cookies (including essential cookies) we cannot guarantee that your experience will be as fulfilling as it would otherwise be, and you may not be able to access all or parts of our website.
Where we collect personal data as part of our use of cookies on the website, we will do so in accordance with our Privacy Policy.
Most modern web browsers give you some control over cookies. You can set your web browser to accept or reject all cookies or to accept or reject specific cookies. You may also be able to set your browser to alert you every time a cookie is offered.
You can find out how to control and delete cookies on www.aboutcookies.org.uk
Appendix 1
Part 1 – Cookies Used
We use both session and persistent cookies on our website. The names of the cookies that we use on our website, and the purposes for which they are used, are set out below:
| Cookie Name | Default Expiration Time | Description |
|---|---|---|
| __utma | 2 years from set/update | Used to distinguish users and sessions. The cookie is created when the javascript library executes and no existing __utma cookies exists. The cookie is updated every time data is sent to Google Analytics. |
| __utmb | 30 mins from set/update | Used to determine new sessions/visits. The cookie is created when the javascript library executes and no existing __utmb cookies exists. The cookie is updated every time data is sent to Google Analytics. |
| __utmc | End of browser session | Not used in ga.js. Set for interoperability with urchin.js. Historically, this cookie operated in conjunction with the __utmb cookie to determine whether the user was in a new session/visit. |
| __utmz | 6 months from set/update | Stores the traffic source or campaign that explains how the user reached your site. The cookie is created when the javascript library executes and is updated every time data is sent to Google Analytics. |
| __utmv | 2 years from set/update | Used to store visitor-level custom variable data. This cookie is created when a developer uses the _setCustomVar method with a visitor level custom variable. This cookie was also used for the deprecated _setVar method. The cookie is updated every time data is sent to Google Analytics. |