Privacy and cookies
What are cookies?
When we provide services, we want to make them easy, useful and reliable. Where services are delivered on the Internet, this sometimes involves placing small amounts of information on your device, for example, computer or mobile phone. These include small files known as cookies. They are not used to identify you personally.
These pieces of information are used to improve services for you through, for example:
- enabling a service to recognise your device so you don't have to give the same information several times during one task
- recognising that you may already have given a username and password so you don't need to do it for every web page requested
- measuring how many people are using services, so they can be made easier to use and there's enough capacity to ensure they are fast
You can manage these small files yourself and learn more about them through "allaboutcookies.org"
Our use of cookies
Cookies for improving service
Google Analytics sets cookies on the cps.gov.uk websitepages to help us accurately estimate the number of visitors to the website and volumes of usage. This helps to ensure that the service is available when you want it and fast. These cookies are:
- Name: _utma
Typical content: randomly generated number
Expires: 2 years - Name: _utmb
Typical content: randomly generated number
Expires: 30 minutes - Name: _utmc
Typical content: randomly generated number
Expires: when user exits browser - Name: _utmz
Typical content: randomly generated number + info on how the site was reached (e.g. directly or via a link, organic search or paid search)
Expires: 6 months
For further details on the cookies set by Google Analytics, please refer to the Google Code website
Cookies to ensure your security
The form that we use for feedback and complaints on both the English and Welsh language sites sets a cookie that recognises when the form is open and ensures that it only stays open for a limited time. This is similar to those used by secure banking websites, to ensure your security. This cookie is:
- Name: ASP.NET_SessionId
Typical content: uniquely generated token
Expires: When browser closes
Our Careers section uses an external site, www7.i-grasp.com, to gather job applications and expressions of interest. It uses the following cookies, both to identify that a browser session is open and to close it when left open:
- Name: ASP.NET_SessionId
Typical content: uniquely generated token
Expires: When browser closes - Name: fesettings%5FsecurityString
Typical content: numbers and letters
Expires: when browser closes
The procurement section of our site links through to another site, http://www.contractsfinder.businesslink.gov.uk/, which uses the following cookie:
- Name: ASP.NET_SessionId
Typical content: uniquely generated token
Expires: When browser closes
Other cookies
Our blog, blog.cps.gov.uk, which is hosted by www.typepad.com and is linked to from our site, also sets cookies. This site is responsible for explaining which cookies it uses and how it uses them.
We use an external website, www.surveymonkey.com, to run an opt-in visitor survey on our website. The survey includes cookies that, for example, ensure that someone who has already completed a survey does not do so again. We have asked SurveyMonkey to provide us with the cookies that they use and will detail those cookies here when they have done so.
Updating information about cookies
Whenever we update our website to include new cookies, we will update this page. This ensures that you know about the cookies that are present on the site and can make an informed decision about giving us consent to place them on your computer or other device, using the settings on your browser.
