Our Cookie Policy

What is a Cookie?

An HTTP Cookie (also known as a web, internet or browser cookie) is a small text file that may be stored by a user's web browser when they visit a website.

A cookie is used to record information about a website visitor, often for purposes of making the website work properly, such as when a customer signs in to a service or account.
A cookie may also be used to analyse and track non-personal details of a visitor, in order to assist the website owners in developing and improving their website.
This statistical information includes details such as:

• which web browser a visitor is using
• whether they're browsing from a computer, or a mobile device
• what Operating System that device is using (e.g. Windows, Android, iOS)
• how a visitor reached a website (e.g. bookmark, search page or direct link)
• which pages on the website they visit
• the day, or time of day someone visits

A cookie may exist for the duration of a web browsing session, after which it is deleted. Or it may persist for longer, until it reaches its expiry date, at which point it will be removed.

Cookies can be managed from your web browser settings, or through a browser add-on (also called a browser extension). They can also be removed by clearing your browser's internet history.
More information on managing cookies is available here:
What can I do to manage cookies stored on my computer?^❐ www.allaboutcookies.org/manage-cookies

Our use of Cookies - Statistics

Like many other websites, we use the Google Analytics service in order to record statistical information about visitors to our site. This helps us improve the website to better suit our audience.

No personal information is used when gathering these statistics.
In addition, to protect your privacy, the IP address (which uniquely identifies your computer or device while you are online) is anonymised so that you can't be directly tracked. This is done automatically by Google to mask the last part of the address, so that only a partial IP address is stored for analytical purposes.
An anonymised partial IP address can be used to get an idea of the general geographical area a web visitor was browsing from.
For added security, all analytical data is sent using the encrypted SSL secure internet protocol.

Our use of Cookies - Accessibility

We also use a temporary (session) cookie if you change the page from the standard colour theme to the high contrast version. This is provided to assist visitors who might find the default theme difficult to see properly.
Rather than force you to change the page theme for every page you browse on our site, a cookie is created containing your preferred choice and this remains for the duration of your browsing session.
This cookie is only used locally by your browser and is removed once you finish browsing.

You can also switch page themes using the View menu of certain web browsers:
View → Page Style (Firefox)
View → Style (Opera, Internet Explorer)
This option may not exist in all browser versions.

Both the statistics-gathering and page theme features require Javascript to be enabled in order for them to function.

The Cookies we use

The following table shows the cookies that are used when you visit our site.

Cookie Name	Purpose	Contents	Expires After
_ga	Contains a unique id that anonymously identifies the device you are browsing from as a unique 'visitor'. If you return to this website at another time, the statistics tools can recognise a returning visitor.	A randomly generated visitor number	2 years
_gat	This is used for performance reasons, to limit the collection of data if the website is busy.	A number	10 minutes
site_theme_choice	This is created to remember your selection if you switch between the standard page theme and the high contrast version. This is so the chosen theme stays the same when you move between different pages on the website.	The name of the colour theme selected	You close your web browser

Note: if your web browser is set to only allow temporary (session) cookies, then these expiry dates won't apply and all session cookies should be removed when you close your browser.

If you do not wish the statistical information to be gathered, Google have provided a means to opt-out via a browser add-on:
Google Analytics Opt-Out^❐ tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout