What Are Cookies?
A cookie is a small text file that is placed and stored on your computer, mobile or other device by websites that you visit. Cookies are widely used in order to make websites work or work more efficiently and also to provide information on visitor behaviour to the website owner. For further information on the use of cookies visit www.aboutcookies.org or www.allaboutcookies.org.
Session Cookies
These are temporary cookies that remain in the cookie file of your device’s browser until you close the browser. They can enable certain site functionality and are also used by the server to store/remember information about user web page activities so user information can be stored throughout an online web process e.g. to allow information to be carried across pages of a website to avoid having to re-enter information.
Persistent Cookies
These are cookies that remain in the cookie file of your browser for much longer (how long depends on the lifetime of the specific cookie). Generally speaking, persistent cookies can be used to track website visits, including returning and unique visitors, and to monitor how people interact with a website. They can also be used to help arrange content to match a user’s preferred interests/preferences more quickly e.g. language settings, however, these cookies cannot be used by themselves to identify you.
How Do We Use Cookies?
We use cookies for a number of reasons, including:
- Making possible certain site functionality (session cookie); and
- Website traffic and visitor behaviour tracking (persistent cookie).
The session cookies that we use are strictly necessary for the website to operate and are essential to make possible certain site functionality, including users logging in and updating information on the website. Session cookies do not hold personal information.
The persistent cookies used on this website help us to improve the user experience of the site by giving us an insight into how it is being used. These are Google Analytics cookies, which are used to compile anonymous, aggregated statistics that allow us to understand how users use our website and to help us improve the site structure. Neither we nor any third party can identify you personally in this way.
What Cookies Do We Use And Why?
| COOKIE NAME | COOKIE PURPOSE |
| PHPSESSID | This is a session cookie generated by PHP, a technology we use to code our websites. |
| GOOGLE ANALYTICS (utma, utmb, utmc & utmz) | These are persistent cookies and as such last longer than the user’s session. These cookies are performance cookies and are used as part of our web analytics activity to monitor traffic and compile reporting about how users are using our websites. The cookies are used to capture anonymous data about a user's journey around our website and the information is aggregated in order to allow us to analyse trends and to make improvements to our website. Below is a more detailed explanation of each type of Google Analytics cookie: -utma - this cookie keeps track of the number of times a visitor has been to our website, when their first visit was and when their last visit occurred; -utmb and utmc - these cookies work together to calculate how long a visit takes. utmb takes a timestamp of the exact moment in time when a visitor enters our site, while utmc takes a timestamp of the exact moment in time when a visitor leaves our site. utmb expires at the end of the session. utmc waits 30 minutes and then it expires (this time lag is required to ensure that no further page view activity occurs); -utmz - this cookie tracks where the visitor came from e.g. what search engine was used, what link was clicked on, what keyword was used and where in the world the user accessed our website from. |
Use Of Cookies By Associated Websites And Third Parties
Please be aware that our website contains links to and from other websites. We accept no responsibility or liability for the content of these websites or the cookies they use. If you choose to visit another website via our website, you will need to contact them separately to have your personal information deleted from any records they might hold. It is also the responsibility of these websites to detail their use of cookies to you on their website and to gain the relevant consents from you for their usage.
During your visit to our website you may notice some cookies that are not related to us. This typically takes the form of embedded content from websites such as YouTube and social media bookmarks. When you visit a page with content embedded from these websites and opt to interact with this content you will be presented with cookies from them. We do not control the dissemination of these cookies and you should check the third party websites for more information.
Managing, Disabling And Enabling Cookies
You have the ability to accept or decline cookies from any website by modifying the settings in your browser. If you wish to restrict or block the cookies which are set by our website, you can do this through your browser settings. For information about how to manage and disable cookies you can use the ‘Help’ function within your browser or please visit www.aboutcookies.org or www.allaboutcookies.org. However, please note that by deleting or disabling cookies this could affect the functionality of our website and you may not be able to access certain areas or features of our site.
To opt out of being tracked by Google Analytics across all websites visithttp://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.
