Cookies
This notice explains how we use cookies and similar technologies on our websites and mobile applications to help provide you with the best possible online experience
Your online privacy
You can visit our websites without telling us who you are or revealing any information about yourself.
West Midlands Combined Authority and our partners will treat any personal information about you securely, fairly and lawfully. We are committed to protecting your privacy.
When we ask you for personal information online it will only be in response to you actively applying for or using one of our services.
You can find full details of how we use customer information and our full Privacy Policy above.
Cookies - what are they?
A 'cookie' is a small text file that's stored on your computer, smartphone, tablet, or other device when you visit a website or use an app.
Some of the cookies are necessary for the functionality of the website and they are deleted from your device once you close your browser. These are known as session cookies. Others remain on your device until they expire or you delete them from your cache. These are known as persistent cookies and enable us to remember things about you as a returning visitor.
We use session and persistent cookies to distinguish you from other users. This information helps us to provide you with a good experience when you browse our website and it also allows us to improve our website accordingly.
We also use analytical cookies. They allow us to recognise and count the number of visitors and to see how visitors move around the website when they are using it. This helps us to improve the way our website works, for example, by ensuring that users are finding what they are looking for easily.
How to control and delete cookies
If you want to restrict or block the cookies we set, you can do this through your browser settings. The ‘help’ function within your browser should tell you how.
Cookies - how we use them
If you delete cookies relating to this website we will not remember things about you, including your cookie preferences, and you will be treated as a first-time visitor the next time you visit the site.
We use cookies (and other similar technologies) to:
- Provide services that you request and to provide a secure online environment
- Manage our relationship with you
- Give you a better online experience and track website performance
- Help us make our website more relevant to you
Essential site cookies
These are cookies that are essential for us to provide our service to you and to provide a secure online environment. Without cookies we are unable to provide some products or services that you might request. Other 'essential' cookies keep our website secure. Even if you say “No” to cookies on this website we'll continue to use these 'essential' cookies.
Essential cookies we use include:
ASP.NET_SessionId
This cookie is deleted when you close your browser. Session ID explanation
Performance Cookies: tracking website performance
These cookies collect aggregated information and are not used to identify you.
We use this type of cookie to understand and analyse how visitors use our online services and look for ways to improve them. For example, a cookie might tell us that lots of people give up on an application process at a particular step – so we can try to make that step easier to complete.
The analytics cookies we use include:
- Google Analytics, which uses cookies to help us analyse how our visitors use the site. Find out more about how these cookies are used on the Google privacy site.
- Adobe Analytics, to improve our websites and services. This service and the cookies it uses help us understand the popularity of our content and make better consumer experiences
Functionality cookies: giving you a better online experience
These cookies remember your preferences and tailor the website to provide enhanced features. Without these cookies, we cannot remember your choices or personalise your online experience.
We use this type of cookie to:
- Make your online experience faster by remembering you between visits on your personal devices
- Remembering relevant information as you browse from page to page to save you re-entering the same information repeatedly
- Provide enhanced features, such as playing videos or allowing you to post a comment.
Third party cookies
Please note that during your visits to The West Midlands Combined Authority's websites you may notice some cookies that are not related to The West Midlands Combined Authority or The West Midlands Combined Authority contractors. When you visit a page with content embedded from, for example, YouTube, you may be presented with cookies from these websites. The West Midlands Combined Authority does not control the dissemination of these cookies. You should check the third party websites for more information about these.
The third-party companies we partner with include:
- Twitter - we may use Twitter’s conversion tracking and tailored audiences products. We and third parties collect user data through their application for purposes of conversion tracking and serving ads targeted to users’ interests. We do not select targeting criteria that could reveal sensitive information about users and don’t subject users to advertising that isn't relevant to our brand. Users can opt out of interest-based advertising through ‘Do Not Track’ functionality in your web browser or through such other methods that Twitter may specify here: https://support.twitter.com/articles/20170405
- Orlo - We may use tracking associated with Orlo, a social media monitoring Dashboard. This allows us to monitor campaign effectiveness of social media click through and conversions on activities on our website. If you would like to disable tracking please visit Stop Tracking at https://orlo.tech/
- Facebook - Facebook provide us with certain features and tools (e.g., pixels, SDKs and APIs) that have been added to our website to allow us to send data about actions that people take on our website ('Event Data') to Facebook to track conversions ('Conversion Tracking') and to create custom audiences of people who have visited our website ('Custom Audiences from your Website').
To read more about Terms For Conversion Tracking, Custom Audiences From Your Website, and Custom Audiences From Your Mobile App visit https://www.facebook.com/customaudiences/app/tos/
How to reject cookies
The West Midlands Combined Authority will not use cookies to collect personal identifiable information about you and we recommend that you allow the use of cookies. However, if you wish to restrict or block the cookies which are set on The West Midlands Combined Authority website, or indeed any other website, you can do this through your browser settings. The Help function within your browser should tell you how.
To opt out of being tracked by Google Analytics across all websites visit http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.
For more information about 'cookies' and how to reject them, please see the Interactive Advertising Bureau's website: http://www.allaboutcookies.org.
Questions regarding our Privacy Policy should be addressed to the Data Protection Officer at The West Midlands Combined Authority, 16 Summer Lane, Birmingham B19 3SD.