In short
This site sets no analytics or advertising cookies until you accept them. “Reject all” is presented as prominently as “Accept all”, nothing is pre-ticked, and you can change your choice at any time. Only strictly necessary cookies are set without consent.
How consent works here
Under the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations, non-essential cookies require your consent before they are set. We implement that literally rather than nominally: analytics and advertising storage are set to denied before any tag loads, and only change if you accept. Nothing is sent to an analytics provider in the meantime.
Declining has no effect on your access to anything on this site. Every page, including the cabinet selector, works fully with all optional cookies refused.
Categories we use
| Category | Purpose | Consent needed |
|---|---|---|
| Strictly necessary | Recording your cookie choice so you are not asked repeatedly; security; keeping a form submission intact if you are logged in as an editor | No — these are exempt, and the site cannot function without them |
| Analytics | Understanding which guidance pages are used, how people move through the site, and which interactions are completed | Yes |
| Advertising | Measuring the effectiveness of any advertising we run | Yes |
| Functional | Remembering preferences where a page offers them | Yes |
One thing worth naming because it is unusual: our forms use a hidden field and a submission timestamp to reject automated spam. Neither sets a cookie, neither identifies you, and nothing is shared with a third-party anti-spam service.
Changing your mind
Open the cookie preferences panel from the link in the footer at any time to change or withdraw consent. Withdrawing is as easy as giving it. You can also clear cookies in your browser settings, and most browsers let you block them entirely.
More detail
How we handle personal data more generally is set out in the privacy notice. The Information Commissioner’s Office publishes guidance on cookies at ico.org.uk.