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 cannot be 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 "Internet browser cookies - what they are and how to manage them"
Our use of Cookies
Cookies for improving service
Google Analytics sets cookies to help us more accurately estimate the number of visitors to the website and volumes of usage. This is to ensure that the service is available when you want it and fast.
Name: _utma
Typical content: randomly generated number
Expires: 2 years
Name: _utmb
Typical content: randomly generated number
Expires: 30 mins
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 make site specific web services work
Name: fontscale
Typical content: a number for which text size you've selected. This allows the text size you’ve selected to be remembered.
Expires: when user exits browser
Third-party cookies
Cookies used by Survey Monkey
Occasionally we link from this website to online surveys created using SurveyMonkey - as a means for you to provide feedback on the site, for example. SurveyMonkey places the following cookies on your machine.
Cookies as surveymonkey.com:
Name: s_sess
Typical content: encoded text string of current user survey status
Expires: when you close the browser
Name: s_pers
Typical content: encoded text string of current user survey status
Expires: 3 years
Cookies as www.surveymonkey.com:
Name: P_nnnnnnnn (where n is a number)
Typical content: number
Expires: 8 months
Cookies used by YouTube
YouTube videos are embedded in various pages of the BIS website. Cookies as youtube.com
Name: VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE
Typical content: encoded text
Expires: 8 months
Name: use_hitbox
Typical content: encoded text
Expires: when you close your browser
Name: GEO
Typical content: encoded text
Expires: when you close your browser
