What is a cookie?
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 information to the owners of the site.
How do cookies work?
A website's cookies store information on your user device, which then gets sent back to that website each time you visit. Sometimes this information is essential to access a website's functions - for example if you need to log in, a cookie will allow the website to recognise your log-in details.
Cookies can also be used to build a profile of your activity on a website - which pages you visit, how long you spend on each page. A website may then use this information to tailor the pages that you see when you visit the site in the future.
Do websites need permission to do this?
Yes. The use of Cookies is covered by the Privacy and Electronic Communication Regulations (PECR) which provides that if you use cookies you must explain what the cookies will be used for and you must obtain consent to store cookies on a computer or a mobile device. In terms of regulation 8 (2) of the Data Protection, Privacy and Electronic Communications (Amendments) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 consent is given the same meaning as consent under the GDPR whereby consent must be freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous and must be demonstrated by a clear, affirmative action, signifying agreement to the processing of personal data of the individual concerned. The PECR is enforced by the UK Information Commissioner.
Does the Scottish Parliament website use cookies?
Yes. A list of the cookies used by the Scottish Parliament and their purpose is provided below.
In general terms, we use cookies for two purposes: firstly, we use Google Analytics to gather information about how visitors use our website to help us improve its performance, and secondly, to improve the visitor experience when using the website by delivering pages more quickly or remembering user settings. Additionally, videos on the website use cookies created by third-party providers such as Flash or YouTube.
The information we collect is anonymous - it cannot be used to identify you personally.
Can I control or delete cookies?
All recent versions of popular browsers (such as Internet Explorer, Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox) allow you to control cookies. Typically, you can set your browser to accept or reject all, or certain cookies. You might, for example, be happy to accept a cookie that allows you to log in to a website, but prefer to reject any which are used to build a profile of your internet usage. You should also be able to set your browser to prompt you each time a cookie is offered.
For more detailed instructions on how to control or delete cookies on different browsers, please visit the ICO's Cookies page.
Cookies used by the Scottish Parliament website
Used by |
File name |
Expires |
Purpose |
Further information |
Google Analytics |
_ga |
2 years from set/update |
These cookies are used to collect information about how visitors use our site. We use the information to compile reports and to help us improve the site. The cookies collect information in an anonymous form, including the number of visitors to the site, where visitors have come to the site from and the pages they visited. |
|
|
_gat |
10 mins from set/update |
|
|
_gid |
24 hours from set/update |
|
|
_utma |
2 years from set/update |
An overview of privacy at Google
Use of cookies by Google Analytics
|
|
_utmb |
30 minutes from set/update |
|
_utmc |
On closing browser |
|
_utmz |
6 months from set/update |
|
_utmt |
10 minutes from set/update |
|
_utmv |
2 years from set/update |
ShareThis |
__unam |
8 months from set/update |
Counts clicks and shares of a page |
|
Web applications |
ASP.NET_SessionId |
On closing browser |
The ASP.NET session state is a technology that lets you store server-side, user-specific data. Web applications can use this data to process user requests. |
How and why session IDs are reused in ASP.NET |
Text-size style switcher |
CSSTextSize |
After 30 years |
When a user selects a text-size option using the style switcher, this will remain as their default font size for the duration of their visit to the site and all future visits to the site on the same machine. |
More information about Text-size style switcher |
YouTube
The Scottish Parliament occasionally embeds YouTube videos on its website. We embed videos using YouTube’s privacy-enhanced mode. This mode may set cookies on your computer once you click on the YouTube video player, but YouTube will not store personally identifiable cookie information for playbacks of embedded videos using the privacy-enhanced mode. YouTube videos use the following cookies:
- PREF - This cookie stores your basic preferences, such as choice of language and other information, so you don’t need to set preferences each time you use the site. Expires after eight months.
- YSC - This cookie is set by the YouTube video service on pages with embedded YouTube video. Expires at end of session.
- VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE - A cookie that YouTube sets that measures your bandwidth to determine whether you get the new player interface or the old. Expires after eight months
- remote_sid - This cookie is set by the YouTube video service on pages with embedded YouTube video. Expires at the end of your session
To find out more please visit YouTube’s information page on embedding videos.
How to turn off cookies
Users can set their browsers to accept or reject all, or certain, cookies. Users can also set their browser to prompt them each time a cookie is offered.
Opt out of Analytics
Google has developed an add-on for web browsers which allows users to indicate that information about a website visit should not be sent to Google Analytics.