What is a cookie?
Cookies are small text files that are sent to and stored on your computer, smart phone or other device for accessing the internet, whenever you visit our website. Each cookie is unique to your web browser. It will contain some anonymous information such as a unique identifier and the site name and some digits and numbers. Cookies are specific to the server that created them and cannot be accessed by other servers, which means that they cannot be used to track your movements elsewhere around the web.
Most websites visited will use cookies in order to improve your user experience by enabling that website to 'remember' you, either for the duration of your visit (using a 'session cookie') or for repeat visits (using a 'persistent cookie').
Cookies make the interaction between you and the website faster and easier. If a website doesn't use cookies, it will think you are a new visitor every time you move to a new page on the site – for example, when you enter your login details and move to another page it won't recognise you and it won't be able to keep you logged in.
Cookies may be set by the website you are visiting ('first party cookies') or they may be set by other websites who run content on the page you are viewing ('third party cookies').
We don't sell the information collected by cookies, nor do we disclose the information to third parties, except where required by law, for example to government bodies and law enforcement agencies.
You can find more information about cookies at http://www.allaboutcookies.org/.
Which cookies do we use?
You can find more information about the individual cookies we use and the purposes for which we use them in the table below:
| Cookie | Name | Purpose | More information |
|---|---|---|---|
| Analytics | _ga, _gid | This cookie enables us to estimate our audience size and usage pattern | Find out more |
| Cookie Policy Reminder | hidecookiepolicy | This cookie enables us to show an alert to remind you of our cookie policy if you haven’t closed the alert as yet |
Managing your cookies
The browsers of most computers, smart phones and other web-enabled devices are typically set up to accept cookies. If you wish to amend your cookie preferences for our website or any other websites, you can do this through your browser settings.
Your browser's 'help' function will tell you how to prevent your browser from accepting new cookies, how to have the browser notify you when you receive a new cookie and how to disable cookies altogether. You can also disable or delete similar data used by browser add-ons, such as Flash cookies, by changing the add-on's settings or visiting the website of its manufacturer.
Cookies are often used to enable and improve certain functions on our website. If you choose to switch certain cookies off, it is possible that this will affect how our website works.
To find out more about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set and how to manage and delete them, visit www.aboutcookies.org or www.allaboutcookies.org.