Cookies

What are cookies?

A cookie is a small piece of data sent from a website and stored in a user’s web browser while they use a website. When the user browses the same website in the future, the data stored in the cookie can be retrieved by the website to notify the website of the user’s previous activity.

Cookies cannot be programmed to carry viruses, and cannot install malware on the host computer.

Our use of cookies

Our website uses cookies to distinguish you from other users of our website. This helps us to provide you with a good experience when you browse our website and also allows us to improve our site.

By continuing to browse the site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies.

We use the following types of cookies:

  • Strictly necessary cookies
    These are cookies that are required for the operation of our website. They include, for example, cookies that enable you to log into secure areas of our website or make use of e-billing services.
  • Analytical or performance cookies
    These allow us to recognise and count the number of visitors and to see how visitors move around our website when they are using it. This helps us to improve the way our website works, for example, by ensuring that users are finding what they are looking for easily.
  • Functionality cookies
    These are used to recognise you when you return to our website. This enables us to personalise our content for you and remember your preferences (for example, your choice of language or region).
  • Targeting cookies
    These cookies record your visit to our website, the pages you have visited, and the links you have followed. We will use this information to make our website and the advertising displayed on it more relevant to your interests. We may also share this information with third parties for this purpose.

Cookies we use

Cookie NameDescriptionDurationType
_gaInstalled by Google Analytics. Used to calculate visitor, session, campaign data, and track site usage for analytics reports. Stores information anonymously and assigns a randomly generated number to identify unique visitors.2 yearsAnalytics
_gidInstalled by Google Analytics. Stores information on how visitors use the website and helps create an analytics report on site performance. Data collected includes number of visitors, sources, and pages visited anonymously.1 dayAnalytics
_gatInstalled by Google Universal Analytics to throttle request rate and limit data collection on high traffic sites.1 minutePerformance

Third-party cookies

Please note that third parties (including, for example, advertising networks and providers of external services like web traffic analysis services) may also use cookies, over which we have no control. These cookies are likely to be analytical, performance, or targeting cookies.

How to control and delete cookies

You can block cookies 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.

Alternatively, you can visit www.allaboutcookies.org, which contains comprehensive information on how to delete cookies from your computer, as well as more general information about cookies.