Cookies
Cookie policy
Registration with the UK Data Service requires that cookies are accepted on your computer.
The most common reason for not being able to log on or download data is that cookies are being blocked on your computer.
The UK Data Service website uses cookies that do not contain any personal information. We do not use any cookies for targeting or advertising.
What are cookies?
Cookies are small text files that are placed on your computer by websites that you visit. They are widely used in order to make websites work, or work more efficiently, as well as to provide statistical information to the owners of the site.
How cookies are used on this site
The UK Data Service website uses cookies that do not contain any personal information in order to allow you to move from one resource to another and for the reasons below.
| Cookie name | Category* | Function | Further information |
|---|---|---|---|
| _shibsession_ | Strictly necessary | This cookie is necessary to maintain a user’s session once they have logged in. Login is through Shibboleth. | |
| ASP.NET_SessionId | Strictly necessary | Used with our search engine. It does not contain any personal information and is automatically deleted when you close your browser> | |
| ASPSESSIONID | Strictly necessary | This session cookie is for user interface customisation, mainly once a user has logged in. This cookie is deleted when you close your browser. | |
| _utma _utmb _utmc _utmv _utmz |
Performance | Collects non-personal information about how visitors use the website in order to improve content and navigation and report on general usage statistics. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. | These cookies are used by Google Analytics software. See: Google Privacy Policy |
| cookieaccepted | Functionality | Remembers that you have accepted cookies from our site | Used so that you are not asked for consent each time you visit this site. |
* These categories are defined by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) to assess intrusiveness:
- Strictly necessary.
- Performance.
- Functionality.
- Targeting or advertising.
The UK Data Service currently uses two tools to analyse usage statistics in order to report performance and usage to its funding bodies.
One of these is Matomo, and it gathers the following information about the device you use to access the UK Data Service website:
- operating system
- browser
- browser language
- browser plugins
- first octet of your public IP address.
This information is not stored, but instead is hashed to generate a unique and anonymised ID. Every 24 hours, this hash is rotated, which means that when you revisit the UK Data Service website, you will be given a different ID, and therefore will not be recognised. As this information is not stored other than for 24 hours as a unique and anonymised ID Matomo is used automatically.
The other tool is Google Analytics which we have retained whilst assessing the value of the information collected by Matomo. Google Analytics places a cookie on your computer to assist in collecting statistical information about your use of our site. You are automatically opted out of Google Analytics, but you can opt in by clicking on the ‘Accept Analytics’ button when you first enter our site. If you accept analytics in this way we will use Google Analytics to measure how you use our site so we can improve it based on our understanding of user needs. You can at any time opt out of being tracked by Google Analytics.
For more information, see Guidance on the use of cookies and similar technologies from the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
How to change cookie settings
You can check whether your computer is set up to accept cookies or change the settings for your browser to disallow all cookies through the help pages on the browser you are using. Further information is available at All About Cookies.