Our sites use a number of different cookies.
Below we explain the cookies we use and why we use them.

What is a cookie?
A cookie is a small text file that may be placed on your device when you visit our sites. When you next visit our sites the cookie allows us to distinguish you from other users.

Session, or transient cookies

Cookies that are stored in the computer's memory only during a user's browsing session and are automatically deleted from the user's computer when the browser is closed.
These cookies usually store a session ID that is not personally identifiable to users, allowing the user to move from page to page without having to log-in repeatedly.
They are widely used by commercial web sites (for example, to keep track of items that a consumer has added to a shopping cart).
Session cookies are never written on the hard drive and they do not collect any information from the user's computer.
Session cookies expire at the end of the user's browser session and can also become no longer accessible after the session has been inactive for a specified length of time.

Permanent, persistent, or stored cookies

Cookies that are stored on the user's computer and are not deleted when the browser is closed.
Permanent cookies can retain user preferences for a particular web site, allowing those preferences to be used in future browsing sessions.
Permanent cookies can be used to identify individual users, so they may be used by web sites to analyse users' surfing behaviour within the web site.
These cookies can also be used to provide information about numbers of visitors, the average time spent on a particular page and generally the performance of the web site.
They are usually configured to keep track of users for a prolonged period of time, in some cases many years into the future.

Your right to refuse cookies and what happens if you refuse them

You can refuse cookies by activating the relevant setting on your browser.
However, if you do so you may not be able to access all or parts of our sites.
If you carry on using our sites and do not change your browser settings we will assume you consent to us using cookies as described above.