Cookies, web analytics and statistics
What are cookies?
Cookies are small text files downloaded by your
web browser as you visit websites. When a website sets a
cookie, it is instructing your browser to save a file on the device
you are using (for example, desktop computer, laptop, mobile phone
or tablet). Websites can then 'find' these cookies on your computer
as you continue to use and re-visit the site, reading the
information stored within the file. Generally you will not be aware
that this is happening as cookies are set and read as a web
page loads or when you use a website function.
Cookies can be very important in allowing a website to operate
correctly and to improve user experience, and are used by most
websites. They have many purposes, including enabling:
- a website to 'remember' you as you browse its pages, log in or
re-visit the site;
- you to set your own preferences on the website such as font
size, colour or even layout;
- storing information like the items you have put in your online
shopping basket;
- the collection of analytical data that website owners
can employ to monitor how websites are used, for example how
many times a web page has been viewed;
- 'targeted' advertising, where different adverts are displayed
depending on a browser's location or history.
When websites talk about cookies you may see the following terms
referred to:
- Session cookies - These are
temporary cookies that are destroyed (deleted) from your
device when a browser is closed (session ended).
- Persistent cookies - These are cookies that
are stored on your device for a defined period of time. They have
an expiry date set by the web developer who created the website.
The expiry date can often be longer than a year and can be updated
as you revisit a website. This type of cookie can be important as
it allows a website to remember you (for instance your font size
preferences) when you revisit the website in the future.
- First party cookies - These are cookies set by
the website you are visiting. These cookies can only be accessed
and used by the website that sets them.
- Third party cookies - These are cookies set
through a website by a party other than the one that owns the
website. They are usually set by applications or functions created
by other companies that a website may implement on its pages. The
importance of third party cookies is that they can be used to track
users across websites.
The main types of third party cookies that may
be encountered include:
- analytics cookies (that track site use);
- social media cookies (for example where a site has embedded an
activity feed or page sharing facilities); and
- advertising cookies (where websites use third parties to
display adverts).
There is a wealth of information about cookies available on
the internet. The following are some of the most useful resources
where you can learn more:
European Union (EU) 'cookie' directive
From 26 May 2012 new EU regulations came into force in the UK
designed to protect the privacy of internet users.
We are now required by law to tell you about the cookies we use
on our websites and to gain your consent to store them on your
device.
We have published guidance about the cookies we use across the
websites we own. You can see this below. We have made sure that
this information is readily available across our websites by
placing links in our page headers and on our Help,
Terms and
conditions and Disclaimer pages. At
various times we have also published 'promo banners' on our home
page to advertise our use of cookies.
We have worked through our sites to limit as far as possible the
use of third party cookies. Where third party cookies may still be
set we have tried to make this clear on the page.
We have also launched our 'Cookie consent bar'.
This is an information bar that rolls down from the top of our web
pages giving you the chance to give your consent for us
to set cookies on your device. More information on the operation of
this bar is given below.
Below we have also published links to comprehensive guidance on
how you can use your browser to delete and block cookies.
You can read more about the new regulations on the Information Commissioner's Office
website.
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Gaining your consent - Using our 'Cookie bar'
To gain your consent to cookies being set on your device by
our website we have implemented a 'Cookie bar'. This is a bright
orange information strip that appears at the top of our web
pages prior to you giving or declining your consent.
When the bar appears you can either click 'Allow' to give your
consent, or click 'More info and to decline' which will expand the
bar to show more information about cookies and give full
consent options:
- Allow - You give your consent for our website
to set cookies. Your preference will be remembered and the cookie
bar will no longer show.
- Remember - You decline your consent for our
website to set non-essential cookies. Our website will only
set cookies required for the site's operation (see below) plus a
cookie to remember your preference. The cookie bar will no
longer show.
- Decline - You decline your consent for
our website to set non-essential cookies. Our website will
only set cookies required for the site's operation (see below).
Your preference will not be remembered and therefore the cookie bar
will continue to show.
Should you wish to change your preference at any time, you can use
the following link to delete cookies from this website which will
relaunch the cookie bar.
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Issues you may encounter if you decide not to allow
cookies
Several functions of our site use cookies to operate
correctly and we have to set some cookies to allow the site to
work at all (see 'Our use of cookies' below). Therefore, if you
decide not to select the 'allow' option on our cookie bar, or are
using your browser's settings to block cookies, whilst you
will still be able to use our site you may encounter some
issues.
Some known issues
- SOCITM survey pop-up: This pop-up needs to set
a cookie so that it can remember whether you have previously
dismissed or completed the survey. If you have not allowed cookies
from our site or are using your browser to block them, it will be
unable to set this cookie and will therefore periodically re-appear
on your screen as you browse our site.
- Forms: Our forms software uses cookies. When
completing forms on our website, you may encounter issues if you
have not allowed cookies or are blocking them.
Our use of cookies
When we provide services, we want to make them easy, useful
and reliable. Where services are delivered on the internet,
this involves the use of cookies. They cannot be used to identify
you personally.
You can visit our site and use the majority of its services
without telling us who you are or giving us any person-identifying
information.
Our use of cookies includes to ensure our site operates
correctly and efficiently, to provide accessibility functionality
and to collect usage statistics that allow us to monitor how
our site is used and improve it.
We have conducted an audit of the cookies that are downloaded on
to users' machines when using West Sussex County Council websites.
The table below shows cookies used across our sites.
Cookies set by westsussex.gov.uk domain (First party
cookies)
| Cookie |
Description |
Expiry |
| NSC_xxxx (name changes but prefixed NSC) |
Application/owner: NetScaler (NLB)
This is a network load balancer cookie - ensures our servers do
not become overloaded by requests by distributing workload.
|
1 hour |
| ASP.Net _SessionID |
Application/owner: Alterian website
Used so our website can identify requests linked to the same
browser session.
|
Session (deleted when browser is closed) |
| sessionUpdated |
Application/owner: Formbuilder/SSO
Used to track logins to our Formbuilder software.
|
Session (deleted when browser is closed) |
| token |
Application/owner: Formbuilder/SSO
Used to track logins to our Formbuilder software.
|
Session (deleted when browser is closed) |
| .IMMAUTH |
Application/owner: Immediacy Content Management
System
Used to allow some users to log in to our website.
|
Session (deleted when browser is closed) |
| JSESSIONID |
Application/owner: Java applications
Used so website can identify requests linked to the same browser
session.
|
Session (deleted when browser is closed) |
| saplb_* |
Application/owner: Java
applications/Netweaver
Used in the management of requests to the Netweaver application
server.
|
Session (deleted when browser is closed) |
| ASP.Net_SessionID |
Application/owner: SPOCC
Used so our website can identify requests linked to the same
browser session.
|
Session (deleted when browser is closed) |
| .ASPXAUTH |
Application/owner: SPOCC
Used to recognise successful log in to account area.
|
Session (deleted when browser is closed) |
| _utma |
Application/owner: Google Analytics
This helps us to collect site use statistics. Used to determine
unique visitors to our site and is updated with each page view. See
below for more information.
|
2 years from set/update |
| _utmb |
Application/owner: Google Analytics
This helps us to collect site use statistics. Used to establish
and continue a user session. See below for more information.
|
30 minutes from set/update |
| _utmc |
Application/owner: Google Analytics
This helps us to collect site use statistics. Used in
conjunction with the _utmb cookie to determine whether or not to
establish a new session for the user. See below for more
information.
|
Session (deleted when browser is closed) |
| _utmz |
Application/owner: Google Analytics
This helps us to collect site use statistics. Stores the type of
referral used by the visitor to reach our site, whether via a
direct method, a referring link, a website search, or a campaign
such as an advert or email link. See below for more
information.
|
6 months from set/update |
| StylePicker:fontsize |
Application/owner: Alterian website
Used when you use our font size function. It allows our website
to remember your preference.
|
1 year |
| StylePicker:Colourscheme |
Application/owner: Alterian website
Used when you use our function to change website colours for
accessibility purposes. It allows our website to remember your
preference.
|
1 year |
| ACTINIC_CART |
Application/owner: Eshop
Used to maintain shopping cart in our Eshop.
|
2 years |
| quickpollxxx (changes but is prefixed by quickpoll) |
Application/owner: Quickpoll
Used to prevent further votes being cast once you have voted in
one of our online polls.
|
30 days |
| Socitim_exlude_me9 |
Application/owner: SOCITM
We carry out user surveys on our websites via SOCITM. Used to
track user willingness to participate in site surveys.
|
1 year |
| Socitim_include_me9 |
Application/owner: SOCITM
We carry out user surveys on our websites via SOCITM. Used to
track user willingness to participate in site surveys.
|
1 year |
| Socitim_exclude_alt9 |
Application/owner: SOCITM
We carry out user surveys on our websites via SOCITM. Used to
track user willingness to participate in site surveys.
|
1 year |
| cookie_preference |
Application/owner: Website
Used to determine whether you have agreed to except cookies from
our site.
|
Doesn't expire |
| ad_user_login |
Application/owner: WSGFL
Used to track login status on West Sussex Grid for Learning for
course booking.
|
5 years or until log out |
Google Analytics
We use Google Analytics, a web
analytics service provided by Google. It is used by many
websites across the world. Google Analytics uses first party
cookies through our website to collect standard internet log
information and visitor behaviour. This information is sent to
Google and is used to evaluate how our website is being used.
This enables West Sussex County Council to compile statistical
reports. This is very important to us as it allows us to
constantly review and improve our sites so that you have a better
experience when using them. A full list of cookies used by Google
Analytics and explanations on how these work are available on
the
Google code website.
West Sussex County Council does not collect (nor allow any third
party to collect) personally identifiable information of visitors
to our site. We will not associate any data gathered with any
personally identifying information. We will not link or seek to
link an
IP
address with the
identity of a computer user. In short, Google Analytics doesn't
identify who you are, but it does track your movements on our
websites.
If you choose not to opt out of cookies on our
website, Google provide a browser based tool that you can install
and use to opt out of all Google Analytics data collection. You can
install it from their Google Analytics
opt-out page.
Third party sites and cookies
We use a variety of third party functions and applications to
enrich and improve our content. Whilst we try to limit the setting
of cookies by these applications where possible, some cookies are
unavoidable. Below is an outline of third party functionality used
across our websites and information about the cookies they use:
- We embed our video content using YouTube. Information on how this
website uses cookies can be found on the Google
privacy pages. We have used YouTube's 'no-cookie' domain
to stream videos on our site. This means that cookies will only be
set by YouTube if you elect to play the video.
- We occasionally use Survey Monkey to publish
surveys. Information on their use of cookies is available on
the SurveyMonkey website.
- We use GovDelivery
to facilitate our email alert service. Their sign up process uses a
session cookie relating to the subscription concerned. Information
on their use of cookies can be found on the Legal and privacy
page of their website.
- The social media sharing buttons found on many of our pages are
provided by Add This. We have
adjusted our implementation so that these buttons do not
automatically set cookies. However, using the buttons will mean
that both Add This and the service requested (for example, Twitter
or Facebook) may set a cookie. You can read Add This' policy on
privacy and data
practices on their website, where they also provide a data collection opt-out
service. You should find information about how the third
parties use cookies on their respective policy pages.
- A small selection of pages have Twitter or Facebook activity
streams and badges embedded in them. These use cookies, set by the
respective service.
- Where we have embedded Google Maps in our pages, cookies
may be set by Google. Information on how Google uses
cookies can be found on the Google
privacy pages.
- We have also experimented with using Google's Doubleclick
service to display adverts on our sites. We have since
suspended this trial, but you may find cookies on your device from
this service. You can delete these via your browser (see below). We
may resume this trial in the future. You can read Google's
advertising privacy policy on their Policies and
Principles page, where you can also opt out of all Google
advertising data collection.
Using your browser to disable cookies
You can use your internet browser (for example Crome, Internet
Explorer, Safari or Firefox) to manage cookies universally across
all websites you may look at. This includes being able to block and
delete cookies. However please note that if you do this you may not
be able to use the full functionality of this, or any
other, website.
The website Aboutcookies.org provides instructions on how to
manage cookies in all major browsers:
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Our search engine
The search engine on our website is powered by the Google search
appliance. All search requests are not passed on to any third
party, including Google. West Sussex County Council will always be
upfront about collecting personally identifiable information
through our website.
Website statistics
This analytical data is generated by Google Analytics
for the main West Sussex County Council websites. Some
reporting functionality is limited due to the launch of
the new County Council website on 7 September 2010. We only publish
the previous 6 months of data for the monthly reports. This
information can be viewed on the West
Sussex Data Store page.
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