Cookies

What is a cookie?

Cookies are small text files that are placed on your computer by websites that you visit. They are widely used in order to make websites work, or work more efficiently, as well as to provide information to the owners of the site.

How do cookies work?

A website's cookies store information on your user device, which then gets sent back to that website each time you visit. Sometimes this information is essential to access a website's functions - for example if you need to log in, a cookie will allow the website to recognise your log-in details.
Cookies can also be used to build a profile of your activity on a website - which pages you visit, how long you spend on each page. A website may then use this information to tailor the pages that you see when you visit the site in the future.

How do we use cookies?

We use cookies for two purposes:

  • To track your 'session state' so that when you interact with our website it is able to retrieve data that is specific to you. This allows you to login to our website, for example.
  • To create statistical data about how our visitors find and use our website. This allows us to improve the performance of the website. The information we collect is anonymous, it cannot be used to identify you personally.

A list of the cookies used by this website, and their purpose, is provided below.

These cookies are used to store server-side, user-specific data in order to maintain a session state for the visitor, and to 'remember' their preferences. Our website uses this data to process user requests. Some functions of the website depend on these cookies and may not work properly, or at all, if they are disabled.

Can I control or delete cookies?

All recent versions of popular browsers (such as Internet Explorer, Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox) allow you to control cookies. You can set your browser to accept or reject all, or certain cookies. You might, for example, be happy to accept a cookie that allows you to log in to a website, but prefer to reject any which are used to build a profile of your internet usage. You can also set your browser to prompt you each time a cookie is offered.

For more information, you may wish to visit www.aboutcookies.org which contains comprehensive information on how to do this on a wide variety of browsers. You will also find details on how to delete cookies from your computer as well as more general information about cookies. For information on how to do this on the browser of your mobile phone you will need to refer to your handset manual.

Please note that if you restrict or delete cookies used by this website then it may not function as intended.