Cookie Policy
Cookies
We use cookies to help you experience our website. We’ll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies on the SIB website. However, if you prefer, you can change your cookie settings at any time.
What are cookies?
Delivering services over the Internet sometimes involves placing small amounts of information, known as browser “cookies“, on your computer mobile phone or tablet. Cookies are used to improve services for you by:
- enabling a service to recognise your computer 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 that popular services can be made easier and faster to use
- analysing anonymous data to help us understand how people interact with government services so we can make them better
What do cookies look like?
If you click on a cookie you’ll see a short string of text and numbers. The numbers are your identification card, which can only be seen by the website server that gave you the cookie.
How we use cookies
The SIB website uses a variety of cookies. The NIDirect website provides more details about why cookies are used and how long they will last.
How to manage your cookies
We will not use cookies to collect personally identifiable information about you. However, if you wish to restrict or block the cookies which are set by any website, you can do this through your Internet browser settings. Your browser is the way you access the internet – common browsers are Internet Explorer, Firefox, Google Chrome and Safari. The ‘Help’ function within your browser should tell you how you can restrict or block cookies.
For information on how to restrict or block cookies on the browser of your mobile phone you will need to refer to your handset manual.
Alternatively, you will also find details on how to restrict or delete cookies on a wide variety of browsers, as well as more general information about cookies, on the About Cookies website.
Please be aware that restricting cookies may impact on the way our website works for you.
How we use cookies
The SIB site uses a number of cookies. These cookies are listed below with more details about why we use them and how long they will last.
Measuring website usage
We use Google Analytics to collect information about how people use SIB. We do this to make sure it is meeting people’s needs and to understand how we could meet those needs better.
Google Analytics stores information about what pages you visit, how long you are on the site, how you got here and what you click on. We do not collect or store your personal details such as your name or address. We cannot identify who you are.
We do not allow Google or Webtrends to use or share any information we collect with other third parties.
Google Analytics
| Name of cookie | Typical content | Expires |
|---|---|---|
| __utma | randomly generated number | 2 years |
| __utmb | randomly generated number | 30 minutes |
| __utmc | randomly generated number | when you close your browser |
| __utmx | randomly generated number | 18 months |
| __utmxx | randomly generated number | 18 months |
| __utmz | randomly generated number and information on how the site was reached (e.g. direct or via a link, organic search or paid search) | 6 months |
Further information on cookies set by Google Analytics.