We use cookies to help us give you a better experience on our websites.

Cookies are small text files stored in your device when you access most websites. In this context, we use the term device to mean the device you use to access the internet, such as your computer, laptop, mobile phone or tablet.

How we use cookies

Our websites use cookies in order to make them easier to use and to support the provision of relevant information and functionality to you. Cookies also provide us with information about how our websites are used so that we can keep them up to date and make sure that they provide the right information in the right ways.

The two types of cookies that we use

• Session cookies: these expire when you close your browser and do not remain on your device.
• Persistent cookies: these are stored in the longer term on your device (ie these cookies do not expire when you close your browser).

Most of the cookies used by our websites are persistent cookies.

How cookies affect you

By using this website (that is, the website indicated in your browser address bar) you agree that we may store and access cookies on your device, as further described in this policy. Please note that cookies will be set the moment you visit this Website.

You can choose to manage the cookies we use on our websites through your browser settings at any time. For more information about how to do this, and about cookies in general, please visit www.allaboutcookies.org. 

Please note that preventing cookies may impact on the functionality or performance of this and other of our websites, or prevent you from using certain services provided through those websites. If you choose to prevent cookies, we cannot guarantee access to the services provided through our websites nor be sure how the websites will perform during your visit. Preventing cookies will also affect our ability to update our websites to cater for user preferences and improve their performance.

Please note that some of the cookies used by our websites are operated and controlled by third parties (please see below for further information). 

Our four categories of cookies

The categories of cookies we currently use on our websites are set out below. The cookie categories are based on the category definitions contained in the International Chamber of Commerce UK Cookie guide.

1. Strictly necessary

Strictly necessary cookies are essential to enable you to move around the website and use its features and/or services. These cookies let the website provide services at the request of users.

2. Performance

Performance cookies allow us to update our website to cater for user preferences and improve performance. They collect information about how the website is used. These cookies generally don’t collect information that identifies individuals. 

These cookies may include Google Analytics cookies or other analytics cookies. These cookies may be set by add-ins used by the website that are operated and controlled by third parties (including YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Lockerz); we do not have access to the information collected by these cookies.

Our websites use performance cookies to:

• Provide statistics on how the Website is used (including selections that you have made and services that you have viewed)
• Gather non-user specific technical data regarding usage of the website and provide statistics on how it is used
• Provide and track the effectiveness and operation of videos embedded into the website
• Track user activity in respect of affiliate and third party links, and report such activity to those affiliates and third parties (to allow them to improve their own websites)
• Provide feedback to partners that one of our visitors also visited their website (to allow them to improve their own websites)
• Help us improve the website by measuring any errors that occur
• Test different designs of our Website

3. Functional

Functional cookies allow the website to remember choices that you make and any customisations you make to website pages during your visit. They are necessary to provide features and services specific to individual users. 

Our websites use functional cookies to:

• Remember settings that you've applied to the website such as layout, text size, preferences and colours
• Remember settings based on the region in which you are located, including remembering which language-specific version of the website that you have selected
• Remember if we've already asked you if you want to fill in a survey

4. Targeting or advertising

Targeting and advertising cookies collect information about your browsing habits to enable us to measure the effectiveness of our advertising and marketing campaigns. We do not use online behavioural advertising on any of our websites.

This information may be shared with other organisations where those organisations provide advertising or marketing services on our behalf.

Our websites use targeting or advertising cookies to:

• Link to social networks, who may subsequently use information about your visit to target advertising to you on other websites
  • We do not have access to the information collected by the cookies used for this purpose
• Provide us with information on your visit to the website so that we can measure the effectiveness of our advertising and marketing campaigns
  • This information will identify you as the individual who visited the website, either as a result of one of our advertising or marketing campaigns or following completion of one of our online forms