The Inquiry website puts small files (known as ‘cookies’) onto your computer to collect information about how you browse the website.
Cookies are small text files containing a string of characters that can be placed on your computer or mobile device that uniquely identify your browser or device.
Depending on what you choose to allow these:
- remember your preferences
- tell us if your computer or device has visited the website before
- help us understand how the website is being used
- and generally improve your browsing experience.
Changes made to this policy can be identified by the ‘last updated’ date at the top of this page. Any changes to how your cookie data is processed will be promptly reflected in this policy and will immediately apply to you and your data. If these changes affect how your data is processed, the Inquiry team will take reasonable steps to let you know.
The cookie that remembers your preference will expire after 365 days. After that time and on your next visit, the prompt to confirm your preferences will appear again.
To learn more about how we protect and process your information see our Privacy Notice.
Manage your preferences
You can manage your preferences at any time in the cookie preferences panel.
Strictly necessary cookies
These cookies enable core functionality. The website cannot function properly without these cookies, and can only be disabled by changing your browser preferences.
| Name | Purpose | Expires |
|---|---|---|
| AWSALB | Allows us to deliver the service seamlessly using a load balancer. The cookie records which server cluster is serving you. | 1 week |
| AWSALBCORS | Allows us to deliver the service seamlessly using a load balancer. The cookie records which server cluster is serving you. | 1 week |
| CookieControl | Saves your cookie consent preferences | 1 year |
Every Story Matters
If you choose to use the Every Story Matters online form to share your experience of the pandemic with us, you will be visiting a separate website. Two cookies are set that ensure that service is secure and functions correctly.
| Name | Purpose | Expires |
|---|---|---|
| aws-waf-token | Amazon Web Services Web Application Firewall uses this cookie to help protect this service from malicious traffic. The information gathered is non-unique and can’t be mapped to an individual human being. | 72 hours |
| AWSALBCORS | Keeps track of which form instances are currently assigned to the user’s browser. Lets UX Forms know which instance of a form belongs to who so it can store or retrieve information entered in the form. | Session |
Analytical cookies
These help us to improve our website by collecting and reporting information on its usage. All analytics data we collect is anonymised.
| Name | Purpose | Expires |
|---|---|---|
| _ga | These help us count how many people visit the website by tracking if you’ve visited before. | 2 years |
| _ga_2V0236MQZZ | Used by Google Analytics to find and track an individual session with your device. | 2 years |
| _hjSessionUser_* | Hotjar sets this cookie to ensure data from subsequent visits to the same site is attributed to the same user ID, which persists in the Hotjar User ID, which is unique to that site. | 1 year |
| _hjFirstSeen | Hotjar sets this cookie to identify a new user’s first session. It stores the true/false value, indicating whether it was the first time Hotjar saw this user. | 30 minutes |
| _hjHasCachedUserAttributes | Enables Hotjar to know whether the data set in _hjUserAttributes Local Storage item is up to date or not. | Session |
| _hjUserAttributesHash | Enables Hotjar to know when any User Attribute has changed and needs to be updated. | 2 minutes |
| _hjIncludedInSessionSample_3187026 | Set to determine if a user is included in the data sampling defined by your site's daily session limit. 2 minutes duration, extended every 30 seconds. Boolean true/false data type. | 2 minutes |
| _hjSession_3187026 | Hotjar sets this cookie to ensure data from subsequent visits to the same site is attributed to the same user ID, which persists in the Hotjar User ID, which is unique to that site. | 30 minutes |
| _hjSessionTooLarge | Causes Hotjar to stop collecting data if a session becomes too large. Determined automatically by a signal from the server if the session size exceeds the limit. | 60 minutes |
| _hjSessionResumed | Set when a session/recording is reconnected to Hotjar servers after a break in connection. | Session duration |
| _hjCookieTest | Checks to see if the Hotjar Tracking Code can use cookies. If it can, a value of 1 is set. Deleted almost immediately after it is created. Under 100ms duration, cookie expiration time set to session duration. | |
| _hjLocalStorageTest | Checks if the Hotjar Tracking Code can use Local Storage. If it can, a value of 1 is set. Data stored in _hjLocalStorageTest has no expiration time, but it is deleted almost immediately after it is created. | Under 100ms duration. |
| _hjSessionStorageTest | Checks if the Hotjar Tracking Code can use Session Storage. If it can, a value of 1 is set. Data stored in _hjSessionStorageTest has no expiration time, but it is deleted almost immediately after it is created. | Under 100ms duration. |
| _hjIncludedInPageviewSample | Set to determine if a user is included in the data sampling defined by your site's pageview limit. | 2 minutes |
| _hjIncludedInSessionSample_{site_id} | Set to determine if a user is included in the data sampling defined by your site's daily session limit. | 2 minutes |
| _hjAbsoluteSessionInProgress | Hotjar sets this cookie to detect a user's first pageview session, which is a True/False flag set by the cookie. | 30 minutes |
| _hjTLDTest | Hotjar tries to store the _hjTLDTest cookie for different URL substring alternatives until it fails. Enables us to try to determine the most generic cookie path to use, instead of page hostname. It means that cookies can be shared across subdomains (where applicable). After this check, the cookie is removed. | Session duration |
Marketing cookies
These cookies deliver visitors with customised advertisements based on the pages they visited before, the action they took on the website, and analyse the effectiveness of our marketing campaign.
| Name | Purpose | Expires |
|---|---|---|
| _fbp | To store and track visits across the website. | 3 months |
| _scid_r | Used to help identify a visitor. | 2 years |
| _scid | Used by SnapChat to help identify a visitor. | 1 year |
| sc_at | Used to help identify a visitor. | 1 year |
| _gcl_au | To store and track conversions. | 3 months |
| muc_ads | Collects data on user behaviour and interaction in order to optimize the website and make advertisement on the website more relevant. | 399 days |
| guest_id_marketing | This cookie is for marketing when logged out | 1 year |
| guest_id_ads | This cookie is for marketing when logged out | 1 year |
| personalization_id | This cookie tracks activities on and off X for a personalized experience | 1 year |
You can opt out of analytical cookies in the cookie preferences panel or by installing the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on (opens in new tab).
You can read Google’s overview of data practices within Google Analytics (opens in new tab).