Cookie Policy

EU Legislation

Under the EU Privacy Directive, visitors to ScotlandsPlaces.gov.uk should be fully informed about cookies used by the site and be given the option to remove them from use. If you do not wish to give consent, and acknowledge that elements of our site may not operate as designed, please see the Managing Cookies section below for help with changing your browser settings.

What are cookies?

Cookies are small text files written by a web server to your hard drive. They can only be read or edited by the web site that originally wrote them and are typically used to recognise you as the same person across each request you make to view a web page.

Cookie Categories

To assist you in understanding our use of cookies we have adopted the four cookie categories created by the International Chamber of Commerce. These are:

Category Description
Strictly Necessary These cookies are essential in order to enable you to move around the website and use its features, such as accessing secure areas of the website. Without these cookies services you have asked for, like shopping baskets or e-billing, cannot be provided
Performance These cookies collect information about how visitors use a website, for instance which pages visitors go to most often, and if they get error messages from web pages. These cookies don't collect information that identifies a visitor. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. It is only used to improve how a website works.
Functionality These cookies allow the website to remember choices you make (such as your user name, language or the region you are in) and provide enhanced, more personal features. For instance, a website may be able to provide you with local weather reports or traffic news by storing in a cookie the region in which you are currently located.

These cookies can also be used to remember changes you have made to text size, fonts and other parts of web pages that you can customise. They may also be used to provide services you have asked for such as watching a video or commenting on a blog. The information these cookies collect may be anonymised and they cannot track your browsing activity on other websites.

Targeting or Advertising These cookies are used to deliver adverts more relevant to you and your interests They are also used to limit the number of times you see an advertisement as well as help measure the effectiveness of the advertising campaign. They are usually placed by advertising networks with the website operator's permission. They remember that you have visited a website and this information is shared with other organisations such as advertisers. Quite often targeting or advertising cookies will be linked to site functionality provided by the other organisation.

Cookies written by ScotlandsPlaces

ScotlandsPlaces.gov.uk sets the following cookies:

Name Purpose Expires Category
_ga and _gat Used by Google Analytics. This helps us count how many people visit ScotlandsPlaces.gov.uk by tracking if you have visited before 2 years Performance
_utma Used by Google Analytics. Like _ga, this lets us know if you’ve visited before, so we can count how many of our visitors are new to ScotlandsPlaces.gov.uk or to a certain page 2 years Performance
_utmb Used by Google Analytics. This works with _utmc to calculate the average length of time you spend on ScotlandsPlaces.gov.uk 30 minutes Performance
_utmc Used by Google Analytics. This works with _utmb to calculate when you close your browser when you close your browser Performance
_utmz Used by Google Analytics. This tells us how you reached ScotlandsPlaces.gov.uk (like from another website or a search engine) 6 months Performance
analytics_nextpage_call Used by Google Analytics. This lets us know the next page you visit on ScotlandsPlaces.gov.uk, so we can make journeys better when you close your browser Performance
GDS_successEvents and GDS_analyticsTokens Used by Google Analytics. These help us identify how you use ScotlandsPlaces.gov.uk so we can make the site better 4 months Performance
PHPSESSID Used by ScotlandsPlaces. Used to log in authenticated users, and store temporary preferences for all users when you close your browser Performance
_has_js Used by ScotlandsPlaces. Used to determine if browser has javascript enabled when you close your browser Performance