What are cookies?

A cookie is a small text file that a website saves on your computer or mobile device when you visit the site. Some of our websites use cookies to remember your actions and preferences so as to personalize your experience. We may also use cookies to gather website statistical information to improve our websites; such as number of visitors, the types of browsers and mobile devices used without identifying individual visitors. 

 

What cookies do we use?

Session cookies – allow websites to link the actions of a user during a browser session. They may be used for a variety of purposes such as remembering what a user has put in their shopping basket as they browse around a site. They could also be used for security when a user is accessing internet banking or to facilitate use of webmail. These session cookies expire after a browser session so would not be stored longer term. For this reason, session cookies may sometimes be considered less privacy intrusive than persistent cookies.

 

Persistent cookies – are stored on a users’ device in between browser sessions which allows the preferences or actions of the user across a site (or in some cases across different websites) to be remembered. Persistent cookies may be used for a variety of purposes including remembering users’ preferences and choices when using a site or to target advertising.

 

First and third-party cookies – Whether a cookie is ‘first’ or ‘third’ party refers to the website or domain placing the cookie. First party cookies in basic terms are cookies set by a website visited by the user - the website displayed in the URL window. Third party cookies are cookies that are set by a domain other than the one being visited by the user. If a user visits a website and a separate company sets a cookie through that website this would be a third-party cookie.

 

How to control cookies

You can control and/or delete cookies as you wish – for details, refer to your browser’s help or see https://www.aboutcookies.org/ .

You can delete all cookies that are already on your computer and you can set most browsers to prevent them from being placed. If you do this, however, you may have to manually adjust some preferences every time you visit a site.

To opt out Google Analytics, visit https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.