Cookies are small files placed on your computer by websites that you visit. We do not collect personal information with cookies. We use them to:
remember settings you've saved
measure website usage
Types of cookies:
necessary: required for the operation of the website
functional: personalises the content and remembers your preferences
analytical performance: counts the number of visitors and how visitors move around the website (does not collect personal information)
social sharing: makes it easy for you to share content to social media channels
Third party websites: please be aware that if you access third party websites including social media platforms from this website you will be subject to their terms and conditions.
Cookies used across our websites
SQA cookies
Necessary
Purpose
Cookie Name
Description
Expiration
Load Balancing
HASQA
Ensures delivery of this website, by distributing workload across multiple computing resources.
Session
Ffora
HAAPPLB
Ensures delivery of this website, by distributing workload across multiple computing resources.
Session
Functional
Purpose
Cookie Name
Description
Expiration
Civic Cookie Control
civicCookieControl
Used to track consent, and allows anonymised users to control how cookies are set when using this site.
Three months
Google Maps
NID
Used for the Postcode Finder service.
Six months
Insipio Speakit
_gali
Set when you opt to listen to a particular page.
One minute
iPerceptions Survey
ipe_s ipe.pageViewedCount IPE
Relates to the iPerceptions survey that appears on sqa.org.uk and set only after participation in the survey.
Session Session Three months
Recruitment Portal
ajax_search_cookie
Holds the search string used when filtering jobs.
End of session
Recruitment Portal - Secure
ccp_user5152 lastaccesstime5152 sessionid5152
Identifies logged in user. Holds timestamp for when a page is called from the server. Holds session ID.
End of session End of session End of session
Region picker
cookieip
Holds the assumed IP address of the client.
Session
Region picker
choosecountryregion
Holds country/region chosen.
Six months
Region Picker (url)
choosecountryregionurl
Holds URL for specific region page used on sqa.org.uk.
Six months
Region picker (outside GB)
requestFromOutsideGB
Holds a flag indicating if a user is assumed to be outside GB.
Session
Session Tracking
JSESSIONID
Used to track sessions on sqa.org.uk and the past papers application.
Session
Site search
PREF
Set after performing a search through the sqa.org.uk website.
Session
Style
style
Holds accessibility settings.
One year
Text size
TEXT_SIZE
Holds text size to be used.
-
User Type
iama
Indicates the selected user type from the 'I am a…' menu.
One year
YouTube
YSC VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE
Relates to the user's YouTube preferences.
Session Eight months
Analytical performance
Purpose
Cookie Name
Description
Expiration
Google Analytics
utma _utmb _utmc _utmt _utmz _ga _gat _gid
Used to monitor website traffic, search queries and visits to this website. User data is anonymised.
Two years 30 minutes Session 10 minutes Six months Two years 10 minutes 24 hours
Used to identify a visitor's browser and track website usage while on this website. The cookies do not collect personal information.
10 years 10 years 15 seconds Five seconds Five seconds 10 years
Social sharing
Purpose
Cookie Name
Description
Expiration
doubleclick.net
DSID
Used for re-targeting, optimisation, reporting and attribution of online adverts.
Two weeks
doubleclick.net
IDE
Used for re-targeting, optimisation, reporting and attribution of online adverts.
One year
facebook
fr
Used by Facebook to deliver a series of advertisement products such as real time bidding from third party advertisers.
Three months
Google
1P_JAR APISID
Google uses these cookies, based on recent searches and interactions, to customise ads on Google websites.
Session Two years
Google
HSID
Google security cookie.
Varies from end of session up to two years
Google
NID
User preferences e.g. language, search results per page etc.
Six months
Google
SAPISID
Used by Google to store user preferences and information of Google maps.
Two years
Google
SID
Used by Google to store user preferences and information of Google maps.
Two years
Google
SIDCC
Google tracking cookies.
Session
Google
SSID
Google tracking cookies.
Two years
ads.linkedin.com
BizoID
Used for LinkedIn Ad analytics.
Six months
ads.linkedin.com
lang
Remembers the user's selected language version of a web site.
Session
ads.linkedin.com
UserMatchHistory
Used for LinkedIn Ad analytics.
Six months
linkedin.com
bcookie
Used by LinkedIn for tracking the use of embedded services.
Two years
linkedin.com
lidc
Used by LinkedIn for tracking the use of embedded services.
Session
twitter.com
guest_id
Collects anonymous data related to the user's visits to the website, such as the number of visits, average time spent on the web site and which pages have been loaded, with the purpose of personalising and improving the Twitter service.
Two years
twitter.com
personalization_id
Allows the sharing of content on Twitter.
Two years
How do I change my cookie settings?
You can control the use of cookies using the Cookie Control feature on this website, which works with most browsers and devices.
Cookie Control uses a cookie to remember your preferences. If you clear any cookies from your browser or device then you may need to reset your Cookie preferences when you next visit.
Most web browsers allow some control of most cookies through the browser settings.
This cookies policy may be amended by us at any time.
Contact us
For any information on our cookies, please contact: customer@sqa.org.uk or 0345 279 1000 or write to: The Optima Building, 58 Robertson Street, Glasgow, G2 8DQ.
