Last updated: 31 July 2018
Cookies are small text files that are placed on your computer or mobile device when you visit a website. In general they are used to make websites work or to provide information to the owners of the site.
Changing your cookie preferences
Most browsers (Internet Explorer, Safari, Google Chrome etc.) allow cookies to be placed on your device when you visit websites. If you wish to change the way your browser accepts or rejects cookies, or you wish to delete cookies that have been placed on your device, visit www.allaboutcookies.org.
Use of cookies on this site
We only use cookies that enable our website to function correctly and to provide us with information that allows us to improve its performance. Please be aware that restricting cookies may impact the functionality of some areas of the website, resulting in them not working properly.
The table below lists the cookies used on this site and why we use them.
| BIGipServerVOC-NP-BACS-SharePoint-80-Pool | Used to efficiently route website traffic to our servers providing better performance by ensuring that load is balanced across more than one server | Duration of your visit |
| CookieAcceptance | Remembers that you have been shown a one off message with details of our cookie usage policy when you first visit the website | 1 year from your last visit |
| ASP.Net Session | This cookie serves three functions on the site:
(i) Remembers the selections and data you have entered into one of our online forms so when progressing through the form you won’t be required to re-enter information you have already given
(ii) Enables the parts of the form which have been completed to be redisplayed if the page is reloaded after pressing ‘submit’, for example if the form is incomplete or the information given is the wrong format
(iii) Ensures the correct profile page opens when you select ‘view profile’ in areas of the site where ‘view profile’ is an option | Duration of your visit |
| FedAuth | Remembers that you have logged in allowing you access to the relevant password protected areas of the website, so that as you move around the site you do not have to log in again to access a password protected page | 30 minutes |
Google Analytics
We use the _ga, _gid and _gat cookies provided by Google as part of their analytics tool. These cookies are used to collect information about how visitors use our website, for example number of visitors to the site, which pages are most visited, how visitors move between pages etc. The information they collect is anonymous. We use this information to help improve visitors’ experience of the website.