Details about cookies

This service puts small files (known as ‘cookies’) onto your computer.

These cookies are used to:

  • help us understand how you use the webservice, so we can make improvements
  • remember what notifications you’ve seen so you’re not shown them more than once
  • temporarily store the selections you make

Find out more about how to manage cookies.

Cookies that measure website usage

We use Google Analytics software (Universal Analytics) to collect anonymised information about how you use the service. We do this to help make sure the service is meeting the needs of its users and to help us make improvements.

We do not allow Google to use or share the data about how you use this service.

Google Analytics stores information about:

  • how you got to the service
  • the pages you visit on this service and how long you spend on them
  • what you click on while you’re visiting the service

We may also set our own cookies to understand how people move through the service.

Analytics cookies
Name Purpose Expires
_ga Used by Google Analytics, this registers a unique ID to generate statistics about how you use the website 1 year
_gat Google Analytics throttling rate request 1 year
_gid Google Analytics cookie that registers a unique ID to generate statistics about how you use the website 1 year

Change your settings

You can change which cookies you’re happy for us to use.