In order to make our web-site simpler to use and improve our service, we sometimes place small amounts of information on your computer. These are known as 'cookies' and they are used by most major web-sites.
Cookies are used to:
- Remember settings so you don't have to change them again every time you load a page.
- Recognise that you are logged in to an area of the web-site so you don't have to keep re-entering your username & password.
- Measure how you use the web-site so we can continue to improve it.
Our cookies aren't used to identify you personally, and you can manage or delete these files if you want to. Visit AboutCookies.org for more information on cookies and how you can manage them.
Our use of cookies
Here is a list of the cookies that are set by this website and the third-party services we use. If you have any queries about these cookies, please contact us using the Enquiries page.
Measuring web-site usage (Google Analytics)
We use Google Analytics to collect information about how people use the web-site. We do this to make sure we are meeting our users' needs and to understand how we can improve the site.
Google Analytics stores information about what pages you visit, how long you are on the site, how you got here and what you click on. We do not collect or store your personal information (eg. your name or address) so this information cannot be used to identify you. We do not allow Google to share our analytics data.
| Name | Purpose | Expires |
|---|---|---|
| _ga | Used to distinguish users | 2 years |
| _gid | Used to distinguish users | 24 hours |
| _gat | Used to throttle request rate | 1 minute |
For more information on the cookies set by Google Analytics, please refer to the Google Code web-site.
Cookies for managing your current visit
We use one cookie to manage your current session on the web-site.
| Name | Typical content | Expires |
|---|---|---|
| PHPSESSID | Randomly generated number | When you close your browser |
Third-party Social Networking Services
If you opt-in to using social networking services on our site cookies from third-parties such as Facebook, Google and Twitter will be saved on your computer. These are used to provide extra functionality, such as allowing you to 'Like' or share an article, blog entry or event on our web-site.
The code provided by Facebook may set cookies. For more information, see:
- Facebook Privacy Policy: www.facebook.com/policy.php
- Facebook Social Plugins: developers.facebook.com/docs/plugins
The code provided by Twitter may set cookies. For more information, see:
- Twitter Privacy Policy: http://twitter.com/privacy
Deleting Cookies
The majority of web browsers (Firefox, Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Opera, Safari etc.) will allow also allow you to delete selected/all cookies currently installed on your device.
Depending on your browser, further information can be obtained via the following links:
Similarly, mobile phone users may have to refer to their handset manual for details on how to delete cookies using their mobile browser.
Please note that this will usually only remove any cookies currently installed on your device; you must also change your browser settings (above) if you wish to prevent cookies being installed in future. Please be aware that deleting cookies already stored on your device may impact on the usability of our website.