A cookie is a small text file that resides on your computer. Cookies are used to remember your settings when you revisit a website and to identify how visitors navigate the site. Cookies provide valuable information to website owners to adapt and make changes to the site in order to improve the user experience.
Why we use cookies
In common with many websites we use a number of different types of cookies to help improve your experience of using our website, specifically by:
- Remembering preferences you have previously indicated to us.
- Helping to make form submission (particularly over multiple pages) easier.
- Ensuring we know when you are logged in and logging you out automatically after a period of time to protect you against misuse.
- Understanding how many people have visited our website, the search terms they are using and the journeys they make in order to locate content.
- Capturing user feedback and ensuring we only ask you once.
We do not use the information captured for any other purpose.
Types of cookies
Session cookies
These are stored on a temporary basis and usually deleted when you close your browser. These are used primarily to help you complete tasks online, for example remembering your details whilst completing an online form to save you re-entering; or remembering search terms you have recently used.
Persistent cookies
These are stored for a fixed period of time, generally so the website knows that you have visited previously and any preferences you might have indicated at that time. These are particularly used in the collection of visitor statistics.
These cookies are usually set in one of two ways:
- First party cookies - These are set directly by the website you are visiting and the information is only used by that website.
- Third party cookies - These are set by a different website/organisation to the one you are currently using and the data may be shared.
Categories of cookie used on this website
Cookies fall into broad categories depending on their intended use:
Strictly necessary cookies: Enable you to move around the website and use its core features.
Performance cookies: Collect information about how you use the website, are anonymised when aggregated and are only used to help improve the website's performance.
Functionality cookies: Allow the website to remember choices you've made and provide a more enhanced, personalised service. Not used to track your activities on other websites.
Targeting/tracking cookies: Used to deliver more relevant advertising. Usually placed by third party agencies and the information gathered may be shared with other organisations.
All cookies on this website fall into one of the first three categories.
- Strictly necessary cookies: Log-in and form submission
- Performance cookies: Visitor metrics across the website
- Functionality cookies: User preferences and customer satisfaction and feedback
For more information about cookies in general please visit All About Cookies.
How do I control what cookies are used?
When you enter our site for the first time you will be asked whether you wish to use cookies or not. You can choose to accept or decline cookies.
Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies if you prefer. However this may prevent you from taking full advantage of our website.
Cookies used on our website(s)
First party cookies
- ASP.NET_SessionId, ASPSESSIONIDSADTTCCA- These are session cookies which identify you as a unique user whilst a browsing our website(s). These cookies expire when you close your browser.
- AllowEasysiteCookies - This cookies are set when you accept cookies on this site. These cookies expire in 1 year.
- monsido - We use the tools at monsido.com to help us find, identify and correct spelling errors and improve the quality of this website to make it easier to find and use. This cookie expires in one calendar month.
- _ga - Google Analytics* cookie, this enables us to analyse traffic to the website in order to make improvements and monitor usage, the cookie contains no identifiable information. This cookie expires in two years.
- _gat and/or _gat_UA-8488195-2 - Google Analytics* cookies, these enable us to analyse traffic to the website in order to make improvements and monitor usage, the cookie contains no identifiable information. These cookies expires in ten minutes.
- googtrans - A cookie that is set to remember your chosen page translation language when using the Google Translate functionality. This cookie expires when you close your browser or turn off Google Translate.
Third party cookies
- NID set by google.com - The NID cookie contains a unique ID Google uses to remember your preferences and other information, such as your preferred language (e.g. English), how many search results you wish to have shown per page (e.g. 10 or 20), and whether or not you wish to have Google's SafeSearch filter turned on.
- VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE, PREF, YSC set by youtube.com - These cookies are set by youTube when you visit a page on this site that has a youTube video embedded into it. YSC expires when you close your browser, PREF expires in two years, VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE expires in approximately eight months.
*Google Analytics opt out
You can opt-out from Google Analytics tracking by following the instructions on the Google Analytics Opt Out Page.