BORING STUFF

What’s a cookie?

A “cookie” is a piece of information that is stored on your computer’s hard drive and which records your navigation of a website so that, when you revisit that website, it can present tailored options based on the information stored about your last visit. Cookies can also be used to analyse traffic and for advertising and marketing purposes.

Cookies are used by nearly all websites. If you want to check or change what types of cookies you accept, this can usually be altered within your browser settings.

How do we use cookies?

We use cookies to track your use of our website. This enables us to understand how you use the site and track any patterns that emerge individually or from larger groups. This helps us to develop and improve our website and services in response to what our visitors want and need.

Cookies are either:

• Session cookies: these are only stored on your computer during your web session and are automatically deleted when you close your browser – they usually store an anonymous session ID allowing you to browse a website without having to log in to each page but they do not collect any information from your computer; or
• Persistent cookies: a persistent cookie is stored as a file on your computer and it remains there when you close your web browser. The cookie can be read by the website that created it when you visit that website again. We use persistent cookies for Google Analytics and for personalisation (see below).

Cookies can also be categorised as follows:

• Strictly necessary cookies: These cookies are essential to enable you to use the site effectively, such as the filters you have chosen when browsing the site, and therefore cannot be turned off. Without these cookies, the services available to you on our site cannot be provided. These cookies do not gather information about you that could be used for marketing or remembering where you have been on the internet.
• Performance cookies: These cookies enable us to monitor and improve the performance of our site. For example, they allow us to count visits, identify traffic sources and see which parts of the site are most popular.
• Functionality cookies: These cookies allow our website to remember choices you make and provide enhanced features. For instance, we may be able to provide you with news or updates relevant to the services you use. These cookies can also be used to remember changes you have made to text size, font and other parts of web pages that you can customise. They may also be used to provide services you have requested such as viewing a video or commenting on a blog. The information these cookies collect is usually anonymised.
• Personalisation cookies: These cookies help us to advertise details of potential services that we think may be of interest. These cookies are persistent (for as long as you are registered with us) and mean that when you log in or return to the website, you may see advertising for services that are similar to services that you have previously browsed.