Cookie notice
About cookies
We put small files (known as ‘cookies’) onto your phone, tablet or computer to collect information about how you browse the site.
Cookies are used to:
- remember your progress
- measure how you use the website so it can be updated and improved based on your needs
Cookies aren’t used to identify you personally.
Find out more about how to manage cookies.
How we use cookies
You can choose whether you are happy for us to use ‘necessary cookies only’ or ‘all cookies’ in the cookie consent banner that appears at the top of the website.
Necessary cookies
These essential cookies do things like remember your progress through a form. They always need to be on.
You may see a banner when you first visit this site inviting you to accept cookies, reject cookies or review your settings. We’ll store necessary cookies so that your computer knows you’ve seen it and knows not to show it again.
| Name | Purpose | Expires |
| cookies-marketing-option | Saves a message to let us know that you’ve seen our message | 1 month |
| cookies-analytics-option | Saves a message to let us know that you’ve seen our message | 1 month |
Cookies that measure website use
We use Google Analytics, Google Analytics 4 and Google Tag Manager software to collect information about how you use the website. We do this to help make sure the site is meeting the needs of its users and to help us make improvements.
Google Analytics, Google Analytics 4 and Google Tag Manager store information about:
- the pages you visit
- how long you spend on each page
- how you got to the site
- what you click on while you’re visiting the site
We don’t collect or store personal information so this information can’t be used to identify who you are.
We don’t allow Google to use or share our analytics data.
Google Analytics, Google Analytics 4 and Google Tag Manager set the following cookies:
| Name | Purpose | Expires |
| _ga | This helps us count how many people visit the site by tracking if you’ve visited before | 2 years |
| _gid | This helps us count how many people visit the site by tracking if you’ve visited before | 24 hours |
| _gat | Used to manage the rate at which page view requests are made | 10 minutes |
| collect | Used to send data to Google Analytics about the visitor’s device and behavior. Tracks the visitor across devices and marketing channels. | end of session |
Cookies that help with our communications and marketing
These cookies may be set by third party websites and do things like measure how you view YouTube videos that are on GOV.UK.
Cookies that remember your settings
These cookies do things like remember your preferences and the choices you make, to personalise your experience of using the site.
You can opt in to using these cookies by selecting ‘allow all cookies’. You can also opt out of Google Analytics cookies at any time.
Changes to this notice
This notice may be changed from time to time. In that case, the ‘last updated’ date at the bottom of this page will also change. Any changes to this privacy notice will apply to you and your data immediately.
Last updated 07/02/24.