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This policy explains how Glasgow Training Academy uses cookies and similar technologies on our website, what each type does, and how you can control them. It sits alongside our Privacy Policy, which explains how we handle personal data more broadly.
1. What cookies are
Cookies are small text files a website stores on your device. Similar technologies (pixels, tags, local storage, and session-recording scripts) do comparable things. We use the word "cookies" in this policy to cover all of them. Cookies can be:
- first-party (set by us) or third-party (set by another provider, like Google or Microsoft);
- session (deleted when you close your browser) or persistent (they stay for a set period).
2. Our approach: you're in control
We only use strictly necessary cookies automatically. Everything else (our analytics) is set only after you agree through our cookie banner. Until you consent, those cookies don't run. You can change your mind at any time (see section 6).
When you first visit, our banner lets you Accept all, Reject all, or choose which categories to allow. Rejecting non-essential cookies is as easy as accepting them, and the site still works.
3. The categories of cookies we use
| Category | What it's for | Consent needed? |
|---|---|---|
| Strictly necessary | Keeping the site secure and working, and remembering your cookie choices. The site can't work properly without these. | No (always on) |
| Analytics / performance | Understanding how people use the site so we can improve it (pages visited, where people drop off, and interaction data). | Yes |
We don't currently use advertising or targeting cookies. If that changes, we'll add the category here and to the banner before switching it on.
4. The specific tools we use
These run only with your consent. Each provider processes data under its own privacy terms, linked below.
| Tool | Category | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Google Tag Manager | Container | Manages how the analytics tags below load. It doesn't itself track you, but it deploys tools that do, so it fires under consent. |
| Google Analytics (GA4) | Analytics | Measures site traffic and usage patterns |
| Microsoft Clarity | Analytics | Heatmaps and session replay: records how pages are used (clicks, scrolls, movement) to help us improve them (on-screen text is masked). |
Provider policies and controls:
- Google: policies.google.com/technologies/cookies · opt-out: tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout
- Microsoft Clarity: privacy.microsoft.com
5. International data transfers
Google and Microsoft are based outside the UK and may process your data abroad, including in the US. Where that happens, appropriate safeguards apply, as described in our Privacy Policy.
6. How to manage or withdraw consent
You can:
- change your choices whenever you like by opening Cookie preferences, or using the Manage option in our cookie banner;
- control cookies in your browser: most browsers let you block or delete cookies (see aboutcookies.org or your browser's help);
- use each provider's opt-out listed in section 4.
Withdrawing consent won't affect anything collected while consent was active, and won't stop strictly necessary cookies.
7. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy as our site and tools change. We'll update the "last updated" date, and material changes to how we use non-essential cookies will be reflected in the banner. Please check back for the latest version.
8. Contact us
Questions about cookies or your data: email support@glasgowtrainingacademy.ac, call Office 0141 724 0000 / Mobile 0752 537 4008, or write to Glasgow Training Academy Ltd, Edward House Business Centre, 4C Burnfield Avenue, Giffnock, Glasgow, G46 7TL. You can also complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk.