What’s a cookie?
A "cookie"
is a piece of information that is stored on your computer’s hard
drive and which records how you move your way around a website so
that, when you revisit that website, it can present tailored options
based on the information stored about your last visit. Cookies can
also be used to analyse traffic and for advertising and marketing
purposes.
Cookies are used by nearly all websites and do not harm your
system.
If you want to check or change what types of cookies you accept,
this can usually be altered within your browser settings. You can
block cookies at any time 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
site.
How do we use cookies?
We use
cookies to track your use of our website. This enables us to
understand how you use the site and track any patterns with regards
how you are using our website. This helps us to develop and improve
our website as well as products and / or services in response to
what you might need or want.
Cookies are either:
- Session cookies: these are
only stored on your computer during your web session and are
automatically deleted when you close your browser – they usually
store an anonymous session ID allowing you to browse a website
without having to log in to each page but they do not collect
any personal data from your computer; or
- Persistent cookies: a
persistent cookie is stored as a file on your computer and it
remains there when you close your web browser. The cookie can be
read by the website that created it when you visit that website
again. We use persistent cookies for Google Analytics and
remarking.
Cookies
can also be categorised as follows:
- Strictly necessary cookies:
These cookies are essential to enable you to use the website
effectively, such as when buying a product and / or service, and
therefore cannot be turned off. Without these cookies, the
services available to you on our website cannot be provided.
These cookies do not gather information about you that could be
used for marketing or remembering where you have been on the
internet.
- Performance cookies: These
cookies enable us to monitor and improve the performance of our
website. For example, they allow us to count visits, identify
traffic sources and see which parts of the site are most popular.
- Functionality cookies: These
cookies allow our website to remember choices you make and
provide enhanced features. For instance, we may be able to
provide you with news or updates relevant to the services you
use. They may also be used to provide services you have
requested such as viewing a video or commenting on a blog. The
information these cookies collect is usually anonymised.