Cookies notice

The GCS website (gcs.civilservice.gov.uk) puts small files (known as ‘cookies’) onto your computer to collect information about how you browse the site.

Cookies are used to:

  • measure how you use the website so it can be updated and improved based on your needs
  • remember the notifications you’ve seen so that we don’t show them to you again

You can find out more about how to manage cookies, including how to delete and block them, on the Information Commission Officer’s (ICO) website.

How cookies are used on the GCS website

Measuring website usage (Google Analytics)

We use Google Analytics software to collect information about how you use this site. We do this to help make sure the site is meeting the needs of its users and to help us make improvements.

Google Analytics stores information about:

  • the pages you visit on the site
  • how long you spend on each page
  • how you got to the site
  • what you click on while you’re visiting the site

It doesn’t collect or store your personal information (e.g. your name or address) so this information can’t be used to identify who you are. We don’t allow Google to use or share our analytics data.

Google Analytics sets the following cookies:

NameExpires
_ga2 years
_gat10 minutes
_gid24 hours
_ga_ZB8GLD6N602 years

You may opt out of Google Analytics cookies.

Cookies message

You may see a banner when you visit the GCS website 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.

NamePurposeExpires
seen_cookie_messageLets us know if you’ve seen our cookie message1 year
cookie_policySaves your cookie consent settings1 year

YouTube videos

We embed videos from our official YouTube channel using YouTube’s privacy-enhanced mode. This mode may set cookies on your computer once you click on the YouTube video player, but YouTube will not store personally-identifiable cookie information for playbacks of embedded videos using the privacy-enhanced mode.

NameExpires
GPS30 minutes
PREF2 years
VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE9 months
YSCWhen you close your browser
remote_sidWhen you close your browser

Read YouTube’s Privacy Policy.