Use of Cookies on our site
A cookie is a text-only string of information that a website transfers to the cookie file of the browser on your computer’s hard disk so that the website can remember who you are. A cookie will typically contain the name of the domain from which the cookie has come, the “lifetime” of the cookie, and a value, usually a randomly generated unique number.
Types of cookies are used on this website:
Session Cookies, which are temporary cookies that remain in the cookie file of your browser until you leave the site.
Persistent cookies, which remain in the cookie file of your browser for much longer (though how long will depend on the lifetime of the specific cookie).
Cookies can help a website to arrange content to match your preferred interests more quickly. Most major websites use cookies. Cookies cannot be used by themselves to identify you.
Session Cookies
- To allow you to carry information across pages of our site and avoid having to re-enter information.
- Within registration to allow you to access stored information.
- To log you into the site.
Persistent Cookies
- To help us recognise you as a unique visitor (just a number) when you return to our website and to allow us to tailor content or advertisements to match your preferred interests or to avoid showing you the same adverts repeatedly
- To compile anonymous, aggregated statistics that allow us to understand how users use our site and to help us improve the structure of our website. We cannot identify you personally in this way
- Within research surveys to ensure you are not invited to complete a questionnaire too often or after you have already done so
- To remember preferences within services across the site e.g. business broadband services
Third Party Cookies
Third parties serve cookies via this site. These are used for the following purposes:
- To serve advertisements on our site and track whether these advertisements are clicked on by users
- Within registration to allow you to access stored information
- To control how often you are shown a particular advertisement
Use of Web Beacons
Some of our Web pages may contain electronic images known as Web beacons (sometimes known as clear gifs) that allow us to count users who have visited these pages. Web beacons collect only limited information which including a cookie number, time and date of a page view, and a description of the page on which the Web beacon resides. We may also carry web beacons placed by third party advertisers. These beacons do not carry any personally identifiable information and are only used to track the effectiveness of a particular campaign.
Disabling and Enabling Cookies
You have the ability to accept or decline cookies by modifying the settings in your browser. However, you may not be able to use all the interactive features of our site if cookies are disabled.
In order to change your browser settings for cookies, follow these instructions:
- In your browser, select the Tools menu
- From the Tools menu, select Internet Options
- A dialogue box appears, select the Privacy tab
- Select the level of privacy you wish to set
- Click Apply and OK