Cookies are pieces of data stored on your computer or mobile device by a website’s server. Only that server will be able to retrieve or read the contents of that Cookie as each Cookie is unique to your web browser. Cookies are used to improve the user experience by enabling a website to ‘remember’ you. Cookies cannot carry viruses, so there is no danger in this respect. Most websites that you visit will use Cookies, but you are able to control Cookies by switching them on and off in your browser. If you would like to find out more then visit http://www.aboutcookies.org for detailed guidance.

But, before you make a decision to switch off Cookies, it’s important to understand what a Cookie does.

Cookies do lots of different jobs, most of which are highly beneficial to the user. A Cookie helps you to navigate between pages efficiently; they store your preferences, remembering what it is you like. Cookies really help to improve your website experience and so do have a benefit for the user. One really important feature of a Cookie is that they remember you and so if there are websites you regularly visit, when you login the website remembers you and so as you move between pages it will keep you logged in. If the website doesn’t remember you, then you might have difficulty keeping logged in as you move from page to page. Cookies are also really useful for website owners and can be used to help with their marketing and advertising. Cookies may be set by the website you are visiting, but they can also be set by a third party website who may be running content on the page you are visiting. Below is a brief description of what the Cookies on this website do and what they are used for. We are assuming that you are happy with this usage, but if you are not, then you can delete Cookies having visited the site.

There are different Cookie types:

Session Cookie – this is used for the duration of your current visit. You can find out more information on session cookies and what they are used for at http://www.allaboutcookies.org/cookies/session-cookies-used-for.html

Persistent Cookie – these cookies are stored on a users’ device in between browser sessions which allows the preferences or actions of the user across a site/s to be remembered.

First and third party Cookies – this refers to whether the website domain that is placing the Cookie is ‘first’ or ‘third’ party. First party Cookies are those set by the website visited by the user. Third party Cookies are those set by a domain other than the one being visited.

“Session” Cookies – may be used to remember various details about your visit e.g. to remember your log-in for you or what products you have within your shopping basket. These Cookies are deemed strictly necessary to the working of the website. If Cookies are disabled then some functionality of your site will be broken. More information on session Cookies and what they are used for at http://www.allaboutcookies.org/cookies/session-cookies-used-for.html

Blog Comments – if you want to leave a comment on our blog then you have to be either logged in as a member, or you have to supply your name and email address. You can choose to post anonymously, but we would still need your name and email address, so you can’t leave a blog post without telling us who you are.

Google Adsense – this Cookie is used by Google and reports to us on how any adverts on our site is performing. All user data is anonymous. You can find out more about Google and its policies regarding advertising at https://www.google.com/policies/privacy/

DoubleClick (Google) – this is very similar to the Google Adsense Cookie, but is specific to any display advertising on our site. All user data is anonymous. You can find out more about Google and its policies regarding advertising at https://www.google.com/policies/privacy/

Google Analytics – we use this to help us to understand how our site is being used so that we can improve the user experience. You can find out more about Google’s position on privacy in relation to its analytics service at http://www.google.co.uk/intl/en/analytics/privacyoverview.html

Social buttons – you will see most of the pages on our site feature ‘social buttons’. These enable users to share or bookmark pages on the web. Our site includes: Twitter, Google +1, Facebook ‘Like’, and LinkedIn ‘share’. To connect these buttons to the relevant social networks and external sites, we have had to implement scripts from outside. Because of this, it is likely that these external sites are collecting data about what you are doing all around the internet, not just on our website. You should check the respective policies on each of these sites to see how any information that they may have gathered on your session is used and to find out how to opt out or delete such information

External web services – sometimes we have to use external web services, mostly to display content within our website, such as Flickr, YouTube and Vimeo. In time, we may use other external sources too, so the list presented is not exhaustive. As with the social buttons, we cannot prevent these sites, or external domains from collecting information on your usage of this embedded content. If you are not logged in to these external services, then they will not know who you are, but they will still be able to gather anonymous information during any session on our website.

Email tracking – some of the emails we send to you such as service emails or invoice emails contain no tracking. However, we do from time to time send you emails that do contain tracking, i.e. newsletters, offers etc. We track these emails so we can see how much traffic those emails send to our website and to help us improve what we do. Sometimes we do use the personal information e.g. to re-email people who didn’t click the first time, but if you would rather we didn’t do that and you want to opt out, then you can do this via Your Account.

We will not use Cookies to collect or store any information that is personally identifiable to you, however, as mentioned above we may use information from your site preferences to analyse how you use our site. These Cookies are there to improve and enhance your experience on our website, allowing you to set preferences and have full use of any of our websites features. Your browser will allow you to manage Cookies in some of the following ways, giving you the control over how cookies are used on your computer:

• Accept or reject all Cookies
• Accept or reject Cookies from a particular site
• Set your browser to prompt you each time a Cookie is offered
• View the Cookies stored on your computer and delete them, individually or as a group

It’s important to be aware that if you block cookies, many websites will not work properly, hindering your online experience. We don’t recommend turning Cookies off when using our website.