About this policy
This Cookie Policy tells you what to expect when our website collects personal information. It applies to the information we collect about our visitors, and those who login to our website.
What are cookies?
A ‘cookie’ is a small text file that is delivered by our website server onto your computer whilst you visit our website, which can subsequently be used by the website to identify particular devices and thereby remember your website preferences and login details. Most cookies will not collect information that identifies you and instead will collect more general information such as how you arrived at and used our website, or your general geographical location.
Types of Cookie
- Session cookies are temporary and expire once you close your browser (or once your session ends).
- Persistent cookies category encompasses all cookies that remain on your hard drive until you erase them, or your browser does, depending on the cookie’s expiration date. All persistent cookies have an expiration date written into their code, but their duration can vary. According to the ePrivacy Directive (Directive 2002/58/EC), they should not last longer than 12 months, but in practice, they could remain on your device much longer if you do not take action.
- First-party cookies, similarly to as the name implies, first-party cookies are put on your device directly by the website you are visiting.
- Third-party cookies are placed on your device, not by the website you are visiting, but by a third-party like an advertiser or an analytic system.
Why are cookies needed?
Cookies make websites work better and they are a standard part of most modern websites. For example, they remember the items you’ve placed in your online shopping cart so that the items appear at the checkout when you make your purchase. Another example would be when you login to webmail services such as Hotmail or Gmail: on such occasions a cookie is generated that confirms you are logged in and when you log off, the cookie is deleted. This means if someone goes back to your webmail address on your computer, you will still be logged out – and they won’t be able to read your emails.
More detail on how businesses use cookies is available at: www.allaboutcookies.org
What cookies do we use?
We only use strictly necessary cookies.
We do not use any cookies to track your activities on our website or any other analytical cookies, nor do we make any attempt to discover the identities of anyone who visits our website.
Strictly necessary cookies
Strictly necessary cookies (otherwise known as “Essential cookies”) enable core functionality such as page navigation and access to secure areas. These cookies do not gather information about you that could be used for marketing purposes and they do not remember when you have been on the internet. You may disable these cookies by changing your browser settings, but this may affect how our website functions during your interactions with us (see relevant section below).
Non-essential Cookies
We do not collect any other data from you when you visit our website.
Third Party Cookies
Third-party cookies are set by a domain other than the one the user is visiting. This typically occurs when the website incorporates elements from other sites, such as images, social media plugins or advertising. When the browser or other software fetches these elements from the other sites, they can set cookies as well.
The FRCC does not control the use of these third-party cookies and cannot access them due to the way that cookies work, as cookies can only be accessed by the party who originally set them. Please check the third-party websites for more information about these cookies.
I don’t consent to the use of cookies – what can I do?
Whilst we do not collect any non-essential Cookies, generally you can also turn off cookies for a particular website or several sites, by adjusting your browser settings to prevent it from accepting cookies. However, it’s important to note that turning off cookies is likely to limit the functionality of not only our website, but also the functionality of a large number of the world’s websites, and accordingly, your experience of ours and other websites may be impaired because data is no longer being captured about your interactions.
Enabling and disabling browser settings
You can enable and disable browser settings by following the relevant instructions on the below links:
Google Chrome
- Various levels of cookie enablement and disablement can be found here
Microsoft Edge
- Various levels of cookie enablement and disablement can be found here
Mozilla Firefox
- Various levels of cookie enablement and disablement can be found here
Opera
- Various levels of cookie enablement and disablement can be found here
Safari on OSX
- Various levels of cookie enablement and disablement can be found here
All other browsers
- Look for a the “help” function in the browser or contact the browser provider.
I’m concerned about spyware – what can I do?
It may be that your concerns around cookies relate to so called “spyware” and in which case, rather than switching off cookies in your browser, you may find that anti-spyware software achieves the same objective by automatically deleting cookies considered to be invasive. Learn more about managing cookies with antispyware software here.
What if I want to make a complaint?
We hope you will never have reason for doing so, but if you wish to complain about our use of cookies and similar technologies, please email our Data Protection Contact at info@frccommissioner.org.uk.
You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the UK Regulator, the Information Commissioner’s Office (“ICO”). For further information about your data subject rights and how to complain to the ICO, can be found at: https://ico.org.uk/concerns.
Changes to our cookie policy
This ‘Cookie Policy’ was last updated on 5 May 2023.