Introduction
Cookies are small pieces of information, normally consisting of just letters and numbers, which online services provide use when users visit them. Software on the user’s device (for example a web browser) can store cookies and send them back to the website next time they visit.
How are cookies used?
Cookies are a specific technology that store information between website visits. They are used in numerous ways, such as:
- supporting users to log in to a website;
- analysing traffic to a website; or
- tracking users’ browsing behaviour.
We could use the following cookies:
- Strictly necessary cookies. These are cookies that are required for the operation of our website. They include, for example, cookies that enable you to log into secure areas of our website.
- Analytical or performance cookies. These allow us to recognise and count the number of visitors and to see how visitors move around our website when they are using it. This helps us to improve the way our website works, for example, by ensuring that users are finding what they are looking for easily.
- Functionality cookies. These are used to recognise you when you return to our website. This enables us to personalise our content for you and remember your preferences (for example, your choice of language or region).
- Targeting cookies. These cookies 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 also share this information with third parties for this purpose.
- Tracking Cookies. Tracking cookies are cookies, i.e. text files dropped on browsers, that are able to record data about the user of that specific browser, such as their actions on a site, browsing activity, purchases and preferences, IP address and geographical location. This information is used for targeted marketing, to direct and display advertisements as accurately as possible.
Cookies and purpose
We use cookies on our website(s). Please see below information about the individual cookies we use and the purposes for which we use them in the table below:
| Cookie | Duration | Description |
|---|---|---|
| _ga | 2 years | This cookie is installed by Google Analytics. The cookie is used to calculate visitor, session, campaign data and keep track of site usage for the site's analytics report. The cookies store information anonymously and assign a randomly generated number to identify unique visitors. |
| _gat_gtag_UA_163880369_1 | 1 minute | This cookie is set by Google and is used to distinguish users. |
| _gcl_au | 3 months | This cookie is used by Google Analytics to understand user interaction with the website. |
| _gid | 1 day | This cookie is installed by Google Analytics. The cookie is used to store information of how visitors use a website and helps in creating an analytics report of how the website is doing. The data collected including the number visitors, the source where they have come from, and the pages visted in an anonymous form. |
| cookielawinfo-checkbox-advertisement | 1 year | The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Advertisement". |
| cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". |
| cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional | 11 months | The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". |
| cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". |
| cookielawinfo-checkbox-others | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. |
| cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". |
| test_cookie | 15 minutes | This cookie is set by doubleclick.net. The purpose of the cookie is to determine if the user's browser supports cookies. |
| viewed_cookie_policy | 11 months | The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data. |
Please note that the following third parties may also use cookies, over which we have no control. These named third parties may include, for example, advertising networks and providers of external services like web traffic analysis services. These third party cookies are likely to be analytical cookies or performance cookies or targeting cookies:
To deactivate the use of third party advertising cookies, you may visit the pages above to manage the use of these types of cookies.
We do not share the information collected by the cookies with any third parties.
You can block cookies by activating the setting on your browser that allows you to refuse the setting of all or some cookies. 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 website.
Find out more about cookies
You can read more about cookies on the website for the UK’s data protection regulator, the Information Commissioner’s Office – https://ico.org.uk/your-data-matters/online/cookies/
