Cookies on UK Trade Info
Cookie types and why we use them
UK Trade Info puts small files (known as ‘cookies’) onto your computer to collect information about how you browse the site. Find out more about the cookies we use, what they’re for and when they expire.
Cookies that measure website use
We use Google Analytics software (Universal Analytics) to collect anonymised information about how you use UK Trade Info. We do this to help make sure the site is meeting the needs of its users and to help us make improvements to the site and to government digital services.
We do not allow Google to use or share the data about how you use this site.
Google Analytics stores information about:
- how you got to the site
- the pages you visit on UK Trade Information and how long you spend on them
- what you click on while you’re visiting the site
Google Analytics sets the following cookies.
Name | Purpose | Expires |
---|---|---|
_ga | These help us count how many people visit UK Trade Info by tracking if you’ve visited before | 2 years |
_gid | These help us count how many people visit UK Trade Information by tracking if you’ve visited before | 24 hours |
We also set our own cookie to understand how people move through the site:
Name | Purpose | Expires |
---|---|---|
analytics_next_page_call | This lets us know the next page you visit on UK Trade Info, so we can make journeys better | When you close your browser |
JavaScript detection
We measure how many people visiting UK Trade Information are using JavaScript, so that the site works for as many users as possible.
Name | Purpose | Expires |
---|---|---|
JS-Detection | This tells us if you are browsing GOV.UK while running JavaScript | 1 year |
Cookies that help with our communications and marketing
Some UK Trade Info pages may contain content from other sites, like YouTube or Flickr, which may set their own cookies. These sites are sometimes called ‘third party’ services. This tells us how many people are seeing the content and whether it’s useful.
In addition, if you share a link to a UK Trade Info page, the service you share it on (for example, Facebook) may set a cookie. We have no control over cookies set on other websites - you can turn them off, but not through us.
Cookies that remember your settings
These cookies do things like remember your preferences and the choices you make, to personalise your experience of using UK Trade Info.
Messages across UK Trade Info
We might display a message on all UK Trade Info pages to tell you about an important event or situation. We’ll save a cookie that will let us know how many times you’ve seen it, or if you’ve dismissed it.
Name | Purpose | Expires |
---|---|---|
global_bar_seen | Remembers the number of times you’ve seen the message, or if you’ve dismissed it | 12 weeks |
Surveys
We will sometimes select users to take part in a survey, for example our performance survey. If you take part, or dismiss the survey, we’ll save a cookie that lets us know you’ve seen the message so that we do not show it to you again.
Name | Purpose | Expires |
---|---|---|
govuk_taken[NameOfSurvey] | Saves a message to remember if you’ve taken the survey or dismissed it | 4 months |
govuk_surveySeen[NameOfSurvey] | Saves a message to remember how many times you’ve seen the survey | 2 years |
We use SmartSurvey to collect responses to the survey. If you take part, SmartSurvey will save extra cookies to track your progress on their website.
Browser upgrade prompt
We set a cookie the first time you visit UK Trade Info to let us know you’ve visited once.
If you’re using an out-of-date browser the next time you visit, we’ll show you a message suggesting you upgrade.
We’ll also save a cookie that lets us know you do not want to see the prompt if you dismiss it.
Name | Purpose | Expires |
---|---|---|
govuk_not_first_visit | Stops us prompting you to upgrade an out-of-date browser until after your first visit | 28 days |
govuk_browser_upgrade_dismissed | Saves a message to let us know you’ve seen and dismissed the browser upgrade prompt | 28 days |
Strictly necessary cookies
Contacting UK Trade Info
Name | Purpose | Expires |
---|---|---|
govuk_contact_referrer | This lets us know the last page you visited before using the contact UK Trade Info form | 1 day |
UK Trade Info email subscriptions
If you sign up to receive email notifications from UK Trade Info, we will save a cookie if you change your subscriptions. This cookie is deleted when you close your browser.
Name | Purpose | Expires |
---|---|---|
email-alert-frontend_session | This remembers you as you change your email subscriptions | When you close your browser |
Cookies message
You may see a banner when you visit UK Trade Info inviting you to accept cookies or review your settings. We’ll set cookies so that your computer knows you’ve seen it and not to show it again, and also to store your settings.
Name | Purpose | Expires |
---|---|---|
cookies_policy | Saves your cookie consent settings | 1 year |
cookies_preferences_set | Lets us know that you’ve saved your cookie consent settings | 1 year |