About Cookies
Our website uses 'Cookies'. Cookies are tiny pieces of text that a website transfers to the cookie file on your computer or mobile device. The cookies we use cannot harm your computer, do not contain any personal information, and cannot be used to identify you personally.
Cookies are used by the majority of websites. We want our website to be easy to use, reliable and relevant to visitor interests. In order to monitor how our site is being used, and to help us improve it, our website needs to place small files known as cookies on your device (computer, mobile etc). These
pieces of information are used to improve services for you through, for example:
- enabling a service to recognise your device so you don’t have to give the same information multiple times.
- measuring how many people are visiting the website, so areas of most interest on a site can be identified.
If you require more detailed information about cookies please visit:
https://ico.org.uk/for-the-public/online/cookies/
Our use of cookies
The list below shows all of the cookies that are set by this website and the third-party services we use.
| Cookie name |
Purpose |
Expires |
| ASP.NET_SessionId |
Stores anonymous user session data. The SessionID is a unique id generated by the server. It is used to store preferences you may have set on the site and retain them from page to page. |
Expires at end of session. |
| Sitesuma |
Only created once the user logs into website. It stores authentication data, so that subsequent pages know whether you’re logged in and how to treat you depending on your access privileges. |
Expires at end of session. |
| SitesumaSettings |
Only created once user logs into website. Stores a flag to indicate whether user is probably logged in, which helps site performance, but does not form part of the authentication process. Also stores user’s default language selection. |
Expires 1 year from creation. |
Google Analytics Cookies
Google Analytics sets cookies to help us accurately estimate the number of visitors to the website and volumes of usage. Google Analytics stores visitor information in an anonymised form and the cookies used by Google Analytics do not store any sensitive data, or data which identifies you personally.
| Cookie name |
Purpose |
Expires |
| __utma |
Used to distinguish users and sessions. The cookie is created when the javascript library executes and no existing __utma cookies exists. The cookie is updated every time data is sent to Google Analytics. |
2 years from set/update. |
| __utmt |
Used to throttle request rate. |
10 minutes. |
| __utmb |
Used to determine new sessions/visits. The cookie is created when the javascript library executes and no existing __utmb cookies exists. The cookie is updated every time data is sent to Google Analytics. |
30 mins from set/update. |
| __utmc |
Not used in ga.js. Set for interoperability with urchin.js. Historically, this cookie operated in conjunction with the __utmb cookie to determine whether the user was in a new session/visit. |
End of browser session. |
| __utmz |
Stores the traffic source or campaign that explains how the user reached your site. The cookie is created when the javascript library executes and is updated every time data is sent to Google Analytics. |
6 months from set/update. |
| __utmv |
Used to store visitor-level custom variable data. This cookie is created when a developer uses the _setCustomVar method with a visitor level custom variable. This cookie was also used for the deprecated _setVar method. The cookie is updated every time data is sent to Google Analytics. |
2 years from set/update. |
How to delete and block our cookies
If you want to delete or block our cookies you can do so using your browser's settings. If you would like detailed instructions as to how to do this we recommend you take a look at the guides at
https://ico.org.uk/.
Your use of our website without modifying your cookie settings means you consent to our use of cookies.