If you send us personal information
Our website will only collect personal information which you knowingly and voluntarily provide, for example by sending emails, completing forms or responding to surveys. If you provide us with personal information, we will ensure that it is treated in accordance with data protection legislation.
What is a cookie?
Cookies are small text files that are sent to and stored on your computer, smart phone or other device for accessing the internet, whenever you visit our website. Each cookie is unique to your web browser. It will contain some anonymous information such as a unique identifier and the site name and some digits and numbers. Cookies are specific to the server that created them and cannot be accessed by other servers, which means that they cannot be used to track your movements elsewhere around the web. Please note that passwords and credit card numbers are not stored in cookies.
Most websites visited will use cookies to improve your user experience by enabling that website to ‘remember’ you, either for the duration of your visit (using a ‘session cookie’) or for repeat visits (using a ‘persistent cookie’).
Most websites use cookies for a variety of reasons, such as to determine preferences, let users navigate between pages efficiently, verify the user and carry out other essential security, and these are all termed as ‘non-evasive’.
Cookies make the interaction between you and the website faster and easier. If a website doesn’t use cookies, it will think you are a new visitor every time you move to a new page on the site – for example, when you enter your login details and move to another page, it won’t recognise you and it won’t be able to keep you logged in.
Cookies may be set by the website you are visiting (‘first-party cookies’) or they may be set by other websites who run content on the page you are viewing (‘third-party cookies’).
We don’t sell the information collected by cookies, nor do we disclose the information to third parties, except where required by law (for example to government bodies and law enforcement agencies).
N.B. Persistent cookies remain after your browser is closed.
You can find more information about cookies at https://www.allaboutcookies.org/
Different forms of cookies
Essential cookies
Essential cookies let you move around the website and use essential features like secure areas. These cookies don’t gather any information about you that could be used for marketing or remembering where you’ve been on the internet. You cannot opt out of these cookies and therefore should not continue to use this site. Alternatively, set up your browser to block cookies from this site (See ‘Managing your cookies’ below).
N.B. It is assumed that by using this site, you have agreed to accept essential cookies. If you use the browser to block essential cookies, it will prevent the site from functioning as intended.
Analytic cookies
Analytic cookies collect information about how you use our website, for example, which pages you visit and if you experience any errors. These cookies don't collect any information that could identify you – all the information collected is anonymous and is only used to help us improve our website and the service it provides to you, determine what interests our users, and measure how effective the website is.
It is possible to block analytic cookies if you want to.
We use analytic cookies to:
- provide statistics on how our website is used
- see how effective our marketing is (we don't use this information to target adverts to you when you visit other websites)
- help us improve the website by measuring any errors that occur.
Analytic cookies will NOT be used to:
- gather information that could be used to advertise products or services to you on other websites
- target adverts to you on any other website.
Google Analytic cookies
These persistent cookies are used to collect information about how visitors use our site. We use the information to compile reports and to help us improve the site. The cookies collect information in an anonymous form, including the number of visitors to the site, where visitors have come to the site from, and the pages they visited.
Example of when analytic cookies are used:
For remembering information you’ve entered on forms when you navigate to different pages in a single web browser session which identify you as being logged in (if the site has a login area).
The use of these cookies will not gather information that could be used to advertise products or services to you or for use in targeting adverts on any other site.
Managing your cookies
The browsers of most computers, smart phones and other web-enabled devices are typically set up to accept cookies. If you wish to amend your cookie preferences for our website or any other websites, you can do this through your browser settings. Your browser’s ‘help’ function will tell you how to prevent your browser from accepting new cookies, how to have the browser notify you when you receive a new cookie and how to disable cookies altogether. You can also disable or delete similar data used by browser add-ons, such as Flash cookies, by changing the add-on’s settings or visiting the website of its manufacturer.
Cookies are often used to enable and improve certain functions on our website. If you choose to switch certain cookies off, it is possible that this will affect how our website works.
For further information on cookies:
Comprehensive information on how to block or erase cookies on a wide variety of desktop browsers: https://www.aboutcookies.org
Useful information about cookies: https://www.allaboutcookies.org
Internet Advertising Bureau
A guide to behavioural advertising and online privacy has been produced by the internet advertising industry which can be found at: https://www.youronlinechoices.eu