What cookies are
Cookies are small text files placed on your device by a website. They allow a site to recognize your browser, remember preferences, and measure how pages are used. A cookie is not a program: it cannot run on your machine, and it cannot read files stored elsewhere on your device.
Similar technologies, such as local storage, serve comparable functions and are covered by this policy. When we write cookies below, the same rules apply to those equivalents. If you clear cookies from your browser, the preferences a site remembered for you are cleared with them.
Categories of cookies we use
Every cookie on this site falls into one of four groups. Three of them exist to keep the site working or to improve it; the fourth is optional and is only set when you agree to it.
Strictly necessary
Support core functions such as form submission and security. Without them the consultation form cannot be sent and session integrity cannot be maintained.
Cannot be declined while using the site.
Analytics
Help us understand aggregate traffic and page performance, so we know which parts of the site answer visitor questions and which parts need work.
Optional. Set only after consent.
Preference
Remember choices you make on the site, such as a dismissed notice or a language of display, so a return visit does not start from zero.
Optional. Set only after consent.
Third-party tools
Placed by services we embed on a specific page, such as scheduling or email tooling. Their behaviour is described in the next chapter.
Varies. Depends on the tool in use.
Where any non-essential category is used, it is described on this page and can be declined at the browser level. We do not use cookies to build advertising profiles of visitors.
Cookies set by others
Some pages may include content or tools provided by third parties, such as scheduling or email services. Those providers may set their own cookies when you interact with their features. We do not control those cookies and cannot delete them from your browser on your behalf.
What this means for you
Their use of data is governed by their own policies, not this one. If a tool asks for your details before it starts, read that provider's notice before you continue; it will tell you what they keep and for how long.
Managing cookies in your browser
Most browsers allow you to block or delete cookies through their settings. The exact path differs by browser and by version, but the controls are usually grouped under a privacy or site-data heading. Instructions are available in your browser's help documentation.
Before you block everything
- 1Blocking strictly necessary cookies may prevent parts of the site, including the consultation form, from working correctly.
- 2If a form fails to send after you change your settings, restore cookies for this site and try again before assuming the form itself is broken.
- 3Private or incognito windows usually discard cookies when you close them, which is a simple way to test the site without changing your normal settings.
Consent
Where required, non-essential cookies are set only after you indicate consent through the notice shown the first time you visit. Choosing to decline leaves the site fully usable; only the measurement and convenience features are switched off.
You can change or withdraw consent at any time by adjusting your browser settings or by contacting us using the details at the end of this page. Withdrawing consent stops future collection but does not remove data already recorded; existing records stay in place until they expire or are removed under the rules in the Privacy Policy.
Retention
Cookie lifetimes vary by type. Session cookies expire when you close the browser. Persistent cookies remain for a defined period, which is set by the cookie's purpose and the provider that issued it. Preference cookies generally live longer than session cookies so that a choice you make today still applies on your next visit.
- Session cookies
- Last only while the browser stays open. Closing the window ends them.
- Persistent cookies
- Carry a set expiry date and stay on your device until that date or until you delete them.
- Third-party cookies
- Lifetimes are chosen by the provider that set them; check that provider's policy for the exact figure.
Changes to this policy
We may update this policy if the cookies used on the site change. That can happen when a tool is added, replaced, or removed. The current version is always available on this page, with the effective date shown at the top, so you can tell at a glance whether you are reading the same text you read before.
Current version: 12 October 2026. Previous wording is not archived separately; if you need confirmation of what applied on an earlier date, write to us and we will describe the change.
