By using our site, digital products and services, you agree to our use of cookies as described in this Cookies Policy. You can read our full Privacy Policy here.
What are cookies?
Cookies are small amounts of information which we store on your computer. Your web browser (such as Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome) then sends these cookies back to the website or application on each subsequent visit so that they can recognise you and remember things like personalised details or user preferences.
Our system will issue cookies to your computer when you log on to the site. Those cookies make it easier for you to log on to and use the site during future visits. They also allow us to monitor website traffic and to personalise the content of the site for you. You may set up your computer to reject cookies although, in that case, you may not be able to use certain features on our site.
Which cookies do we use and why?
Cookies help us provide you with a better website service, by enabling us to monitor which pages on the internet you find useful and which you may not.
We use both session cookies and persistent cookies on our website:
- Session cookies only last for your online session and disappear from your computer or device when you close your browser.
- Persistent cookies stay on your computer or device after the browser has been closed and last for the period of time specified in the cookie. These persistent cookies are activated each time you visit the site where the cookie was generated.
You can read our full privacy policy here.
The Cookies we use on our site are “analytical” cookies. They allow us to keep the digital products and services, easy to use and up-to-date and we use web analytics services to help us understand how people use them. For example, we can see which parts of our products and services are most popular, identify when errors occur, and test different versions of a page or feature to see which one works best. These web analytics services may be designed and operated by other companies on our behalf.Web analytics data and cookies cannot be used to identify you as they never contain personal information such as your name or email address. However, if you have registered and signed into our Services we may combine information from your registration with the data we get from the web analytics service and its cookies (or similar technologies) to analyse how you and other people use our digital products and services in detail and, where you have consented to receive such communications, to send you email and other communications that might be of interest to you. Where the combined information can be used to identify you, we use it only in accordance with our Terms of Business and Privacy Policy
Google Analytics
The analytics.js Javascript library is part of Universal Analytics and uses first-party cookies to:
- Distinguish unique users
- Throttle the request rate
Cookie Name | Purpose | Expires |
ga | Registers a unique ID that is used to generate statistical data on how the visitor uses the website.
|
2 years from set-up date |
gat | Used to throttle request rate.
|
Session |
gid | Registers a unique ID that is used to generate statistical data on how the visitor uses the website.
|
Session |
ads/ga audiences | Used by Google AdWords to re-engage visitors that are likely to convert to customers based on the visitor’s online behaviour across web sites.
|
Session |
Collect | Used to send data to Google Analytics about the visitor’s device and behaviour. Tracks the visitor across devices and marketing channels. | Session |
Other Third Party Cookies
Our Site also uses third-party cookies to collect anonymous traffic data about your use of our site. On some pages of our websites you may notice that cookies have been set that are not related to us or our authorised service providers. These anonymous cookies may be set by that third party to track the success of their application or to customise their application to you. For example. Google Analytics collects information such as pages you visit on our site, the browser and operating system you use and time spent visiting pages. We also use third party cookies to provide statistical analysis of site usage. We create reports that we use to tune the system and provide a better interface for the end user.For this purpose we use Google Analytics to analyse the use of this website. Google Analytics generates statistical and other information about website use by means of cookies, which are stored on users’ computers. The information generated relating to our website is used to create reports about the use of the website. Google will store and use this information. Google’s privacy policy is available at www.google.com/privacypolicy.html. If you would like to opt out of being tracked by Google Analytics across all websites please visit: http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.Most browsers allow you to reject all cookies, whilst some browsers allow you to reject just third party cookies
Our own cookies
We use some cookies to help in the general operation of our site. For example to help us to keep track as to whether you have accepted our Cookies policy:
Cookie Name | Purpose | Expires |
Cookie Notice Accepted | Used to determine whether a user has accepted the cookies policy so as not to keep displaying the notice. | 29 days |
gd# | Unclassified | Session |
Cookietest | Checks if browser is set to allow cookies or block them | Session |
DYNSRV | Tracks which web server to send the visitor to. Its purpose is to improve the performance of the website. | Session |
gali | Unclassified | Session |
How to control your cookies
There are various ways that you can control and manage your cookies which are discussed in a bit more detail below. However, if you use your browser settings to block all cookies (including essential cookies) you may not be able to access all or parts of our site.
Please remember that any settings you change will not just affect cookie used on this site. These changes will apply to all websites that you visit (unless you choose to block cookies from particular sites).
Managing cookies in your browser
Most browsers will allow you to:
- See what cookies you’ve got and delete them on an individual basis.
- Block third party cookies.
- Block cookies from particular sites.
- Block all cookies from being set.
- Delete all cookies when you close your browser.
You should be aware that any preferences will be lost if you delete cookies (which also includes where you have opted out from cookies, as this requires an opt-out cookie to be set). Also, if you block cookies completely, many websites will not work properly and some functionality on these websites will not work at all. The links below take you to the ‘Help’ sections for each of the major browsers so that you can find out more about how to manage your cookies.
Internet Explorer
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/ (opens in a new window)
Firefox
http://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/Cookies (opens in a new window)
Google Chrome
http://support.google.com/chrome/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=95647 (opens in a new window)
Opera
http://www.opera.com/browser/tutorials/security/privacy/ (opens in a new window)
Safari
https://www.apple.com/legal/privacy/em-ww/cookies (opens in a new window)
Safari iOS
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201265 (opens in a new window)
Android
http://support.google.com/chrome/answer/2392971?hl=en-GB (opens in a new window)
Blackberry
http://uk.blackberry.com/legal/privacy-policy.html#types-info-d (opens in a new window)