Module Information
Module Identifier
DSM8520
Module Title
Compliance Law and Ethics
Academic Year
2025/2026
Co-ordinator
Semester
Distance Learning
Reading List
Other Staff
Course Delivery
Assessment
| Assessment Type | Assessment length / details | Proportion |
|---|---|---|
| Semester Assessment | Report (2,500-3,000 words) | 50% |
| Semester Assessment | Report / written presentation (equivalent to 2,500-3,000 words) | 50% |
| Supplementary Assessment | Submission of supplementary coursework for failed course elements in line with the learning outcomes of the original assignments | 100% |
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this module students should be able to:
* Critically examine the legal, regulatory and audit trends and context in which information governance and assurance currently operates.
* Identify and describe the range of laws, regulation and audit requirements currently affecting business information in the UK, European and international environment.
* Recognise and assess the potential difficulties faced by those responsible for information compliance, transparency and accountability.
- Distinguish the sector specific drivers and formulate methodologies for using the drivers to effect change within an organisation.
* Examine and debate the ethical challenges faced by information professionals in the modern organisation .
* Critically evaluate the role/contribution of control through legislation, regulation and audit to information governance and assurance.
Brief description
Increasingly, the legal and regulatory regimes governing the creation, maintenance and access to records are affected by international developments and trends as the marketplace becomes seamlessly global. Even organisations limiting their activities to the UK are feeling the effects of wider legal requirements. Students need to be able to demonstrate their knowledge of the recordkeeping requirements in laws and statutes and communicate their implications with legal, risk and IT colleagues. This knowledge and skill base is critical for the Appraisal element of record keeping, enabling the organisation to make decisions as to the level of risk they are happy to incur with a full understanding of the requirements and implications of the decisions they make.
The information professional should be able to facilitate compliance, transparency and accountability of the organisation in terms of the information they create, manage and destroy.
This module examines the impact of legal, regulatory and audit frameworks on recordkeeping practices, the mechanisms open to organisations to ensure they comply with the relevant frameworks and the ethical code within which information professionals should operate.
The information professional should be able to facilitate compliance, transparency and accountability of the organisation in terms of the information they create, manage and destroy.
This module examines the impact of legal, regulatory and audit frameworks on recordkeeping practices, the mechanisms open to organisations to ensure they comply with the relevant frameworks and the ethical code within which information professionals should operate.
Content
Law: International and UK perspectives
- Trends in the global environment affecting the documentation of business evidence;
- Emphasis on access and privacy, intellectual property and environmental legislation;
- Effects of Sarbannes Oxley, HIPPA and e-discovery in the USA and recent rulings and developments;
- Basil 2 and European legislation;
- Differentiation between UK, European and International requirements and areas of convergence. Compliance: Sector perspectives
- Business legislation and general principles and auditing requirements in the UK;
- Sector specific requirements particularly in more heavily regulated industries and the need for a strong business ethics code;
- Methodologies for achieving compliance;
- Mechanisms for researching legal requirements;
- Use of legal drivers to effect change. Business Ethics: issues for information professionals
- Information access and use;
- Censorship and secrecy; public right to know; individual right to privacy;
- Research conduct; intellectual property and information technology.
Module Skills
| Skills Type | Skills details |
|---|---|
| Application of Number | |
| Communication | Oral and written communication via tutorials and classroom discussion/online forums in VLE and assessed work |
| Improving own Learning and Performance | Self management: students make their own selections relating to sector for specialisation/directed study through exercises in certain units and assessed work. |
| Information Technology | Students are expected to utilise the VLE, and other technical systems during practical sessions. Coursework requires the application of IT in its presentation. |
| Personal Development and Career planning | Career needs awareness encouraged and assessed through the group project exercise and report |
| Problem solving | Exercises which seek to identify the needs of the organisation and how best these might be met under different operational conditions |
| Research skills | Analysis of sets of resources and their application to a research problem |
| Subject Specific Skills | Professional skills development in embedding legal, regulatory and best practice compliance in recordkeeping design . |
| Team work | Group activities are integral to the teaching of this module, and to classroom exercises. |
Notes
This module is at CQFW Level 7