Website Policies
Cookie Policy 25th May 2018
What are Cookies?
Cookies are very small text files that are stored on your computer when you visit some websites. We use cookies to help identify your computer so we can tailor your user experience. You can disable any cookies already stored on your computer, but these may stop our website from functioning properly.
In accordance with the E-Privacy Directive (May 2012), we’re asking you to consent to the way we use cookies. By browsing this website, you consent to allowing cookies to be saved on to your computer’s hard drive.
Most web browsers allow some control of most cookies through the browser settings. 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.
Are Cookies Dangerous?
No. Cookies are small pieces of text. They are not computer programs, and they can't be executed as code. Also, they cannot be used to disseminate viruses, and modern versions of Internet browsers allow users to set their own limitations to the number of cookies saved on their hard drives.
While cookies are stored on the computer's hard drive, they cannot access the hard drive - so a cookie can't read other information saved on the hard drive, or get a user's e-mail address etc. They only contain and transfer to the server as much information as the users themselves have disclosed to a certain web site.
A few things to note about the cookies we use:
We use cookies to run key processes such as providing you with the advice and information to support your health and social care requirements, and to make our website easier to use. If you choose not to allow the optional cookies listed below, you won't be able to use certain parts of this website.
We will only use social media cookies and the personalisation cookie if you consent to their use.
You can change your settings at any time by clicking on the cookies link that's at the bottom of every page.
If you change your settings, you may want to delete the cookies that were added to your computer before you made the change. You can do this using your browser settings.
We use a cookie to remember your cookie settings. This means that if you delete all your cookies through your browser, you’ll have to update your cookie settings for this website again. You’ll also need to do this if you use a different computer or smartphone, computer profile or browser to the one you usually use.
Types of cookies we use on our website
The following information outlines all of the cookies we use on our website.
Strictly necessary cookies:
These cookies are automatically allowed because the service will not function without them and the site will not allow you navigate the site. They are essential to allow the core features of the site to work.
Strictly necessary cookies allow you to:
- Log in and out of the site
- Remember your cookie preferences
Social media cookies:
These cookies allow you to connect with social media, so you can log in to the service using a social media account and share what you have been doing on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+.
Social media cookies allow you to:
- Log in with a social media account
- Share and promote your activity within this service on social media
Performance cookies:
These cookies are automatically allowed because the website won’t work properly without them. They collect information in aggregate about how visitors use our site, which allows us to improve its performance over time.
We use third-party service providers to provide certain analytics services to us in connection with the operation of our website, including the collection and tracking of certain data and information regarding the characteristics and activities of visitors to our website. Google Analytics helps us to improve our services by looking at the pages you visit, when & how often you access them and how you initially found and entered our website. Click here to learn more about the type of information collected by Google Analytics (https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/collection/analyticsjs/cookie-usage).
These cookies allow us to:
- help identify unique visitors and/or devices
- monitor the performance of our site
- collect information about how people use the site so we can improve it
- trial new features on a small sample of users
To opt out of being tracked by Google Analytics across all websites visit http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout or https://policies.google.com/technologies/managing
Cookie details
The following table shows the details of the cookies we use:| Cookie name | Cookie type | Source | Function |
|---|---|---|---|
| ASP.NET_SessionID | Esssential | (first party) | This cookie is used to remember your account details and keep you signed in. They will be cleared once you sign out of your account. |
| cookieconsent_status | Essential | (first party) | This is the cookie stored by our Cookie Control when a user agrees to have cookies stored on their machine. |
| yourAuthCookie | Essential | (first party) | This cookie keeps you logged into the login sections of our website so that you do not need to re-enter your login details more than once during your visit to the site. It expires when your browser closes. |
| _utm(x) | Performance | Google Analytics | Any cookies beginning with _utm are ysed to collect information about traffic and user activity. |
| _ga | Performance | Google Analytics | Cookies used to distinguish users by Google Analytics. |
| _gat | Performance | Google Analytics | Cookies used by Google Analytics to throttle request rate. |
| 1P_JAR | Performance | .google.com | Used to gather website statistics, and track conversion rate. |
| APISID, SAPSID, SIDCC, SSID | Performance | .google.com | Cookies generated by Google Maps and reCAPTCHA (Google Maps for geolocating on the address auto-complete form in the account management section) |
| NID | Performance | .google.com | The NID cookie contains a unique ID that Google uses to remember your preferences and other information, such as your preferred language. |
| HSID, SID | Performance | .google.com | These cookies contain digitally signed and encrypted records of a user's Google account ID and most recent sign-in time. The combination of these two cookies allows Google to block many types of attack, such as attempts to steal the content of forms that you complete on web pages. |
| _cfduid | Performance | Cloudflare | Used to identify individual clients behind a shared IP address and apply security settings on a per-client basis. |
| IDE | Performance | .doubleclick.net | One of the main advertising cookies on non-Google sites. You can opt-out here: https://policies.google.com/technologies/managing |
| xs, wd, sb, pl, fr, datr, c_user | Social media sign in | .facebook.com | If Facebook sign-in is enabled by the Public Authority, Facebook cookies will be used. This tracks user activity around share and "like" buttons. |
| Kentor.#### | Social media sign in | Scotland's myAccount service | If enabled by the Public Authority, sign in services from the Scottish improvement agency cookies will be used to support use of the service. |
| accessOn, fontSelected, rulerOn, styleSelected, textSizeSelection | Performance | (first party) | These cookeis are for the basic functionality of the site such as the accessibility bar - all cookies for the accessibility bar are required to remember your preferences for things such as the size of font, colour scheme etc, as you move from one page to the next. |
| FeedbackLater, FeedbackNever | Performance | (first party) | These cookies are set depending on whether the user chooses to give feedback now, later, or never. |
Cookie policy archive
- Version 1 - 25th May 2018 (Latest)