Cookie Policy

Information about our use of cookies

Our website uses cookies to distinguish you from other users of our website. This helps us to provide you with a good experience when you browse our website and also allows us to improve our site.  By continuing to browse the site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies.

A cookie is a small file of letters and numbers that we store on your browser or the hard drive of your computer if you agree. Cookies contain information that is transferred to your computer’s hard drive.

We use the following cookies:

  • Strictly necessary cookies. These are cookies that are required for the operation of our website. They include, for example, cookies that enable you to log into secure areas of our website, use a shopping cart or make use of e-billing services.
  • Analytical/performance cookies. They allow us to recognise and count the number of visitors and to see how visitors move around our website when they are using it. This helps us to improve the way our website works, for example, by ensuring that users are finding what they are looking for easily.
  • Functionality cookies. These are used to recognise you when you return to our website. This enables us to personalise our content for you, greet you by name and remember your preferences (for example, your choice of language or region).
  • Targeting cookies. These cookies record your visit to our website, the pages you have visited and the links you have followed. We will use this information to make our website and any advertising displayed on it more relevant to your interests.
  • You can find more information about the individual cookies we use and the purposes for which we use them in the table below:

Cookie

 Purpose    More information

PHPSESSID

 This cookie contains a session ID which is a mechanism for distinguishing different users’ visits when multiple users are visiting the website at the same time. It is essential for interactive use of the site.   For more information,see: http://php.net/manual/en/features.sessions.php

SESS

 This is to ensure that a user is recognised when moving from page to page within the site and that any information that the user has entered is remembered.

_ga

 This cookie is used to store a unique client identifier (Client ID), which is a randomly generated number. Once the ID is generated it’s stored in the cookie and is included with a request sent to Google Analytics. The cookie is set to expire 24 months (2 years) and the expiration is refreshed every time a hit is sent.

__utma

 This cookie is typically written to the browser upon the first visit to our site from that web browser. If the cookie has been deleted by the browser operator, and the browser subsequently visits our site, a new __utma cookie is written with a different unique ID. This cookie is used to determine unique visitors to our site and it is updated with each page view. Additionally, this cookie is provided with a unique ID that Google Analytics uses to ensure both the validity and accessibility of the cookie as an extra security measure.

__utmb

 This cookie is no longer used by the tracking code implemented on this site. Historically, this cookie operated in conjunction with the __utmb cookie to determine whether or not to establish a new session for the user. For backwards compatibility purposes with sites still using the urchin.js tracking code, this cookie will continue to be written and will expire when the user exits the browser.

__utmc

 This cookie is no longer used by the tracking code implemented on this site.
Historically, this cookie operated in conjunction with the __utmb cookie to determine whether or not to establish a new session for the user. For backwards compatibility purposes with sites still using the urchin.js tracking code, this cookie will continue to be written and will expire when the user exits the browser.

__utmv

 The __utmv cookie allows us to set custom variables e.g. to gain insight as to which particular PDF files have been downloaded or which button on a page a visitor has clicked.

__utmx, __utmxx, __utmx_k_

 The utmx cookie is used by the Google Analytics Content Experiments (formerly the Website Optimizer) for A/B testing of different versions of a web page. When the Content Experiments script executes, it sets this cookie to record which version of the test has been assigned to this visitor. Tracking the version makes it possible for Content Experiments to deliver a consistent experience across our site.

__utmz

 This cookie stores the type of referral used by the visitor to reach our site, whether via a direct method, a referring link, a website search, or a campaign such as an ad or an email link. It is used to calculate search engine traffic, ad campaigns and page navigation within our own site. The cookie is updated with each page view to our site.

wlp_post_protection

 This is a protection cookie which is employed solely for the user’s convenience and for no other purpose.

__cfduid

 The __cfduid cookie is set by the Cloudflare service and used to override any security restrictions based on the IP address the visitor is coming from. It does not correspond to any user ID in the web application, nor does the cookie store any personally identifiable information.

FAKESESSID

 This is a WP Bouncer cookie which is stored for each user when they log in. If a user is logged in, on each page load, WP Bouncer checks if the FAKESESSID stored in the user’s cookies is the same as the last login stored in a transient (fakesessid_user_login). If not, WP Bouncer logs the user out and redirects them to a warning message. http://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-bouncer/

JSESSIONID

 The JSESSIONID cookie is used for session tracking purposes. This cookie contains a random string and the cookie expires at the end of every session or when the browser is closed.

wfvt_

 This is a Wordfence security cookie to identify a user’s unique session on the website. Typically used to maintain the integrity of the user’s session while transacting information with a website (accessing secure areas, forms submissions etc)

WordPress_

 WordPress cookie for a logged in user http://codex.wordpress.org/WordPress_Cookies

wordpress_sec_

 WordPress cookie for a logged in user for SSL sessions only

WordPress_logged_in

 This cookie stores whether you are logged in as a site user (this will ony be true for staff and administrators)

WordPress_test_

 WordPress cookie for a logged in user

WordPress_test_cookie

 This cookie stores whether Cookies are enabled or not, expires when your browser closes.

wp-settings-

 WordPress also sets a few wp-settings-[UID] cookies. The number on the end is the individual user ID from the users database table. This is used to customize the view of admin interface, and possibly also the main site interface.

wp-settings-time-

 WordPress also sets a few wp-settings-{time}-[UID] cookies. The number on the end is the individual user ID from the users database table. This is used to customize the view of admin interface, and possibly also the main site interface.


Please note that third parties (including, for example, advertising networks and providers of external services like web traffic analysis services) may also use cookies, over which we have no control. These cookies are likely to be analytical/performance cookies or targeting cookies.

You block cookies by activating the setting on your browser that allows you to refuse the setting of all or some cookies. However, if you use your browser settings to block all cookies (including essential cookies) you may not be able to access all or parts of our site.

Except for essential cookies, all cookies will expire after 2 years.