Cookie Policy
What are cookies?
A cookie is a small text file that is placed on your computer when you visit any web pages that uses cookies. A cookie contains information that allows websites to recognise your computer and perform a variety of functions such as recording which pages of the website you visit or saving your preferences that allow you to personalise your viewing experience. Cookies are recorded via your web browser (e.g. Chrome, Safari, Internet Explorer or Firefox) and are not visible on a website itself.
Cookies can be either ‘first party’, which means they are used by an organisation on its own website, or ‘third party’ which is when they are used by an organisation on another organisation’s website. Some cookies are ‘session’ cookies that are deleted from your computer as soon as you close your web browser. ‘Persistent’ cookies do not self-delete until a specific period of time has elapsed. Further below we provide information on the cookies we use and highlight which are first and third party.
For more general information about cookies visit: All About Cookies.org. There is also a useful video about cookies on Google’s website.
How we use cookies
We use a variety of cookies to perform different functions, from remembering you are logged into a particular online service to tracking your usage of our websites. In the case of tracking, we use this information to enhance the usability and performance of our websites and online services and no personally-identifiable information is recorded.
By using and browsing our websites, you consent to cookies being used in accordance with our policy. If you do not consent, you must disable cookies or refrain from using the site.
First party cookies
The list below lists the first party cookies we use and their purpose:
Cookie Name or Service: Google Analytics
Purpose: These cookies are used by the Google Analytics service to collect information about how visitors use our site. We use the information to compile reports and to help us improve the site. The cookies collect information in an anonymous form, including the number of visitors to the site, where visitors have come to the site from and the pages they visited.
More Information: Overview of privacy at Google
Third party cookies
When you visit our websites there are some cookies that are set that are not related to us, these are referred to as third party cookies. When you visit a page that contains embedded content, for example from YouTube, you may be sent cookies from these websites. We have no control of the setting of these cookies, so we advise you check the third-party websites for more information about their cookies and how to manage them.
A list of our third-party cookies is provided below:
Cookie Name or Supplier: Facebook
Purpose: Some of our web pages include a Facebook social plugin to enable visitors to share our website content with others via the Facebook website. Anonymous data is collated (browser type, location, page views).
More Information: View Facebook’s privacy policy
Cookie Name or Supplier: Twitter
Purpose: Some of our web pages include a ‘tweet’ button, which enables visitors to share content via the twitter service. Anonymous data is collated (browser type, page views, referring URLs, time/date).
More Information: View Twitter’s privacy policy
Cookie Name or Supplier: YouTube
Purpose: We use YouTube to host some of our video content. When you view a web page on our site with an embedded YouTube video, YouTube creates at least three cookies: VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE, use_hitbox, and PREF. In some circumstances you may also find an additional GEO cookie. We use the YouTube service as a convenience for our visitors, so you can view video content on your computer and mobile devices.
More Information: View YouTube’s privacy policy
How can I control cookies?
Most web browsers accept cookies automatically, but you can change the settings of your browser to reject all cookies, to only allow ‘trusted’ websites to use them, or to only accept cookies from those websites which you are currently on. Please follow the instructions provided below on how to do this for the most popular web browsers.
Please note: we do not recommend rejecting cookies as this is likely to result in some features on our websites and some of our online services not functioning correctly or as intended. For example, if a website cannot tell if you are signed in without using cookies, you will not be able to access certain information or use a particular service.
How do I change my cookie settings?
Most web browsers allow some control of most cookies through the browser settings. To find out more about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set, visit www.aboutcookies.org or www.allaboutcookies.org.
Find out how to manage cookies on popular browsers:
To find information relating to other browsers, visit the browser developer’s website.
To opt out of being tracked by Google Analytics across all websites, visit http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.
More information
For more information about how we use cookies, please contact us.