diff --git a/lib/db/install.xml b/lib/db/install.xml
index af9e2dcd8b1..39bbd58abc4 100644
--- a/lib/db/install.xml
+++ b/lib/db/install.xml
@@ -300,6 +300,7 @@
         <FIELD NAME="completionexpected" TYPE="int" LENGTH="10" NOTNULL="true" DEFAULT="0" SEQUENCE="false" COMMENT="Date at which students are expected to complete this activity. This field is used when displaying student progress."/>
         <FIELD NAME="showdescription" TYPE="int" LENGTH="1" NOTNULL="true" DEFAULT="0" SEQUENCE="false" COMMENT="Some module types support a 'description' which shows within the module pages. This option controls whether it also displays on the course main page. 0 = does not display (default), 1 = displays"/>
         <FIELD NAME="availability" TYPE="text" NOTNULL="false" SEQUENCE="false" COMMENT="Availability restrictions for viewing this activity, in JSON format. Null if no restrictions."/>
+        <FIELD NAME="deletioninprogress" TYPE="int" LENGTH="1" NOTNULL="true" DEFAULT="0" SEQUENCE="false"/>
       </FIELDS>
       <KEYS>
         <KEY NAME="primary" TYPE="primary" FIELDS="id"/>
diff --git a/lib/db/upgrade.php b/lib/db/upgrade.php
index 7a2adeb3f8d..f7e6a77b669 100644
--- a/lib/db/upgrade.php
+++ b/lib/db/upgrade.php
@@ -2322,5 +2322,19 @@ function xmldb_main_upgrade($oldversion) {
         upgrade_main_savepoint(true, 2016110300.00);
     }
 
+    if ($oldversion < 2016110400.02) {
+        // Define a field 'deletioninprogress' in the 'course_modules' table, to background deletion tasks.
+        $table = new xmldb_table('course_modules');
+        $field = new xmldb_field('deletioninprogress', XMLDB_TYPE_INTEGER, '1', null, XMLDB_NOTNULL, null, '0', 'availability');
+
+        // Conditionally launch add field 'deletioninprogress'.
+        if (!$dbman->field_exists($table, $field)) {
+            $dbman->add_field($table, $field);
+        }
+
+        // Main savepoint reached.
+        upgrade_main_savepoint(true, 2016110400.02);
+    }
+
     return true;
 }
diff --git a/lib/modinfolib.php b/lib/modinfolib.php
index d8d3c1ec484..a3664589392 100644
--- a/lib/modinfolib.php
+++ b/lib/modinfolib.php
@@ -554,8 +554,7 @@ class course_modinfo {
 
         // Get section data
         $sections = $DB->get_records('course_sections', array('course' => $course->id), 'section',
-                'section, id, course, name, summary, summaryformat, sequence, visible, ' .
-                'availability');
+                'section, id, course, name, summary, summaryformat, sequence, visible, availability');
         $compressedsections = array();
 
         $formatoptionsdef = course_get_format($course)->section_format_options();
@@ -753,6 +752,7 @@ class course_modinfo {
  * @property-read mixed $customdata Optional custom data stored in modinfo cache for this activity, or null if none
  * @property-read string $afterlink Extra HTML code to display after link - calculated on request
  * @property-read string $afterediticons Extra HTML code to display after editing icons (e.g. more icons) - calculated on request
+ * @property-read bool $deletioninprogress True if this course module is scheduled for deletion, false otherwise.
  */
 class cm_info implements IteratorAggregate {
     /**
@@ -1038,6 +1038,11 @@ class cm_info implements IteratorAggregate {
      */
     private $afterediticons;
 
+    /**
+     * @var bool representing the deletion state of the module. True if the mod is scheduled for deletion.
+     */
+    private $deletioninprogress;
+
     /**
      * List of class read-only properties and their getter methods.
      * Used by magic functions __get(), __isset(), __empty()
@@ -1089,6 +1094,7 @@ class cm_info implements IteratorAggregate {
         'uservisible' => 'get_user_visible',
         'visible' => false,
         'visibleold' => false,
+        'deletioninprogress' => false
     );
 
     /**
@@ -1505,7 +1511,7 @@ class cm_info implements IteratorAggregate {
         static $cmfields = array('id', 'course', 'module', 'instance', 'section', 'idnumber', 'added',
             'score', 'indent', 'visible', 'visibleold', 'groupmode', 'groupingid',
             'completion', 'completiongradeitemnumber', 'completionview', 'completionexpected',
-            'showdescription', 'availability');
+            'showdescription', 'availability', 'deletioninprogress');
         foreach ($cmfields as $key) {
             $cmrecord->$key = $this->$key;
         }
@@ -1700,6 +1706,7 @@ class cm_info implements IteratorAggregate {
         $this->added = isset($mod->added) ? $mod->added : 0;
         $this->score = isset($mod->score) ? $mod->score : 0;
         $this->visibleold = isset($mod->visibleold) ? $mod->visibleold : 0;
+        $this->deletioninprogress = isset($mod->deletioninprogress) ? $mod->deletioninprogress : 0;
 
         // Note: it saves effort and database space to always include the
         // availability and completion fields, even if availability or completion
@@ -1861,6 +1868,12 @@ class cm_info implements IteratorAggregate {
         }
         $this->uservisible = true;
 
+        // If the module is being deleted, set the uservisible state to false and return.
+        if ($this->deletioninprogress) {
+            $this->uservisible = false;
+            return null;
+        }
+
         // If the user cannot access the activity set the uservisible flag to false.
         // Additional checks are required to determine whether the activity is entirely hidden or just greyed out.
         if ((!$this->visible or !$this->get_available()) and
@@ -2465,7 +2478,7 @@ class section_info implements IteratorAggregate {
         'summary' => '',
         'summaryformat' => '1', // FORMAT_HTML, but must be a string
         'visible' => '1',
-        'availability' => null,
+        'availability' => null
     );
 
     /**
diff --git a/version.php b/version.php
index 84c1ef847e5..39211165821 100644
--- a/version.php
+++ b/version.php
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@
 
 defined('MOODLE_INTERNAL') || die();
 
-$version  = 2016110400.01;              // YYYYMMDD      = weekly release date of this DEV branch.
+$version  = 2016110400.02;              // YYYYMMDD      = weekly release date of this DEV branch.
                                         //         RR    = release increments - 00 in DEV branches.
                                         //           .XX = incremental changes.