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Cookies, and how we use them..

The techie details are below, but in short we use Google Analytics. This lets us measure things like how many people visit the site, which pages are most visited, which pages people leave on, what type of device they are using, etc. We can’t use this information to identify individual visitors.

We use this information to plan improvements to the site.

EU Cookie Law

Law

A new law on cookies demands that you, as a website user, are given the opportunity to understand how cookies are used on our websites and consent to cookies being stored on your computer (laptop/mobile/tablet).

What are cookies?

A cookie is a small text file, typically of letters and numbers, downloaded to your computer when you access websites. Typically, they contain the following information: a site name and unique user ID, the duration of the cookie’s abilities and effects, and a random number. As a rule, cookies cannot be used to reveal your identity or personally identifying information.

When you visit a website that uses cookies for the first time, a cookie is downloaded onto your computer. The next time you visit that website, your computer checks to see if it has a cookie that is relevant and sends the information contained in that cookie back to the website. The website then notes that you have been there before, and in some cases, tailors what pops up on screen to take account of that fact. They also might record how long you spend on each page on a site, what links you click, even your preferences for page layouts and colour schemes.

Generally, the role of cookies is beneficial, making your interaction with frequently-visited sites smoother with no extra effort on your part. Without cookies, online shopping would be much harder. Without cookies, some websites will become less interactive with the cookie option turned off.

Our use of cookies

Our website has Google Analytics tracking, which uses cookies to collect data about site visitors, such as their country of origin, which pages they looked at, how long they stayed on the site and which browser they used. We use Analytics reports for marketing and to help improve our website. However, Google Analytics cookies do not collect personal data about our website visitors.

Web beacons

When we send our email newsletters, we use web beacons to keep track of how many recipients have opened their emails. Web beacons are tiny, invisible graphics placed at the bottom of HTML emails. Each time the email is displayed in the recipient’s inbox, that graphic gets downloaded from a server, which is tracked as an “open”.

More information can be found here: ICO – New EU cookie law (e-Privacy Directive)

and here: All About Cookies website.

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