Cookies are small text files which are placed on the computer of a website user to provide the website operator with information about use of our site. They are used to enable websites to function or to provide information to the owners of a website.
Some cookies are deleted when you close down your browser. These are known as session cookies. Others remain on your device until they expire or you delete them from your cache. These are known as persistent cookies and enable us to remember things about you as a returning visitor.
To find out more about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set and how to manage and delete them, visit www.allaboutcookies.org. Alternatively, you can search the internet for other independent information on cookies.
1. What are cookies?
In broad terms we use cookies on our site for the following purposes:
- Analytical purposes: Analytical cookies allow us to recognise, measure and track users of our site in anonymous form. The information collected includes the number of visitors to our site, where visitors have come to our site from and the pages that they have visited. This helps us to improve the way our site works, for example, by determining whether site visitors can find information easily, or by identifying the aspects of websites that are of the most interest to them.
- Usage preferences: Some of the cookies on our site are activated when visitors to our sites make a choice about their usage of our site. The site then 'remembers' the settings preferences of the user concerned. This allows us to tailor aspects of our site to the individual user.
- Disclaimer: We use cookies on our site to record when a site visitor has seen a policy, such as this one, or provided consent, such as consent to our Disclaimer. This helps to improve the user's experience of our site – for example, it avoids a user from repeatedly being asked to consent to the same terms.
- Session management: The software that runs our websites uses cookies for technical purposes needed by the internal workings of our servers. For instance, we use cookies to distribute requests among multiple servers, authenticate users and determine what features of our site they can access, verify the origin of requests, keep track of information about a user's session and determine which options or pages to display in order for our site to function.
- Functional purposes: Functional purpose cookies store information that is needed by our applications to process and operate. For example, where transactions or requests within an application involve multiple workflow stages, cookies are used to store the information from each stage temporarily, in order to facilitate completion of the overall transaction or request.
2. Why do we use cookies?
In broad terms we use cookies on our site for the following purposes:
- Analytical purposes: Analytical cookies allow us to recognise, measure and track users of our site in anonymous form. The information collected includes the number of visitors to our site, where visitors have come to our site from and the pages that they have visited. This helps us to improve the way our site works, for example, by determining whether site visitors can find information easily, or by identifying the aspects of websites that are of the most interest to them.
- Usage preferences: Some of the cookies on our site are activated when visitors to our sites make a choice about their usage of our site. The site then 'remembers' the settings preferences of the user concerned. This allows us to tailor aspects of our site to the individual user.
- Disclaimer: We use cookies on our site to record when a site visitor has seen a policy, such as this one, or provided consent, such as consent to our Disclaimer. This helps to improve the user's experience of our site – for example, it avoids a user from repeatedly being asked to consent to the same terms.
- Session management: The software that runs our websites uses cookies for technical purposes needed by the internal workings of our servers. For instance, we use cookies to distribute requests among multiple servers, authenticate users and determine what features of our site they can access, verify the origin of requests, keep track of information about a user's session and determine which options or pages to display in order for our site to function.
- Functional purposes: Functional purpose cookies store information that is needed by our applications to process and operate. For example, where transactions or requests within an application involve multiple workflow stages, cookies are used to store the information from each stage temporarily, in order to facilitate completion of the overall transaction or request.
3. Your cookie preferences
When you visit our website, you may receive cookies that are set by third parties. These may include cookies set by Google. These cookies are used for the purposes described in the "Why do we use cookies?" section of this policy. We do not control the setting of these third party cookies, so we suggest you might wish to check the third party websites for more information about their use of cookies and how to manage them.
4. Third party cookies
If you wish to remove cookies set by our site from your browser in the future, you may delete them. The instructions for removing cookies from your computer or mobile device depend on the operating system and web browser you use. Please note, however, that withdrawing your agreement to the use of cookies on our site will impair the functionality of our site.
5. Amending cookie preferences
We may collect and process the following data about you in accordance with this Cookies and Privacy Policy:
- information that you provide to us via our site;
- if you contact us, we may keep a record of that correspondence and may record telephone calls for regulatory compliance and record keeping purposes; and
- details of your visits to our site and the materials and information that you access.
6. Information we may collect from you
We may use data held about you in the following ways:
- to support your interaction with us, including to ensure that the content of our site is presented in the most effective manner for you and your computer, to provide you with information or products you may have requested through our site, to notify you about changes to our site and to ensure the ongoing accuracy and relevance of such data;
- to carry out any security or other verification activities to ensure the proper operation of our site or to ensure compliance with our regulatory obligations;
- for general internal research purposes, including to identify and analyse the regularity of the use of our site and the nature of our site's users; and
- to design products and services for your use.
By using this site, you consent to processing of your personal data in accordance with our Terms of Use and this Cookies and Privacy Policy and you warrant that all data provided by you is accurate.
7. Use of your information
We may use data held about you in the following ways:
- to support your interaction with us, including to ensure that the content of our site is presented in the most effective manner for you and your computer, to provide you with information or products you may have requested through our site, to notify you about changes to our site and to ensure the ongoing accuracy and relevance of such data;
- to carry out any security or other verification activities to ensure the proper operation of our site or to ensure compliance with our regulatory obligations;
- for general internal research purposes, including to identify and analyse the regularity of the use of our site and the nature of our site's users; and
- to design products and services for your use.
We may disclose your personal data to our affiliates, agents and contractors (including to parties located outside the European Economic Area) for the purposes stated above. We may also disclose your personal data to third parties (including to parties located outside the European Economic Area):
- in the event that we sell or buy, or one or more of our affiliates sells or buys, any business or assets, in which case we may disclose your personal data to the prospective seller or buyer of such business or assets;
- if we or our assets, or one or more of our affiliates or our affiliates assets' are acquired by a third party, in which case personal data held by it about its clients may be one of the transferred assets;
- if we, or one or more of our affiliates are under a duty to disclose or share your personal data in order to comply with any legal or regulatory obligation; or
- in order to enforce or apply our Terms of Use and other agreements or to protect our rights, our customers or others.
By using this site, you consent to processing of your personal data in accordance with our Terms of Use and this Cookies and Privacy Policy and you warrant that all data provided by you is accurate.