THE real significance of this ruling by the Scottish Information Commissioner is not necessarily what it will disclose in terms of care home deaths.

To a certain extent, that closely guarded information has already passed into the public domain via an alternative route after BBC Scotland - facing similar blocks to its freedom of information requests - turned to the Crown Office instead.

The victory really lies in overcoming and exposing what has become an endemic problem across Scotland's public sector of obfuscation and stonewalling when it comes to requests for sensitive data sought under freedom of information.

READ MORE: Information watchdog orders National Records of Scotland to release withheld data on care home deaths

In 2018, the Scottish Government was criticised by information commissioner, Daren Fitzhenry, over "unjustifiable, significant delays" in responding to some requests and found that journalists and political researchers were subjected to an "additional layer of clearance" that should end.

The pandemic itself was used as a basis on which to stretch the standard deadline for responses from 20 to 60 working days.

The move - eventually reversed - was criticised by transparency campaigner Catherine Stihler, chief executive of the Open Knowledge Foundation, who argued that "openness is key to building public trust during a national emergency".

In July last year, BBC data journalist Marc Ellison wrote of his experience sending hundreds of emails to 1,080 public and private care homes seeking (without success) details of how many Covid deaths each had reported to the Care Inspectorate.

The regulator too declined to provide that breakdown under freedom of information, arguing that infections and death numbers "may not necessarily be related to a service's quality of care, hygiene standards, and use of PPE" and releasing such data "could have significant impact on the ability of the provider...to function commercially in already challenging economic circumstances".

By September, the Herald and its media partners had embarked on our own quest to obtain that data from NRS and are now set to receive it nine months on.

READ MORE: Covid deaths in younger Scots overtake the over-65s for first time in pandemic

In the meantime, the Crown Office has already provided some answers, revealing that Erskine home in Bishopton had the single highest death toll of 32 Covid deaths, while in Clackmannanshire the Orchard Care Centre accounted for 19 per cent of the council area's care home resident deaths (21 out of 110).

Homes run by HC-One accounted for the largest number of Covid deaths - 523 - but an analysis by the BBC found that death rates for the bigger operators fell once averaged out across the number of facilities they ran.

Covid mortality rates in fact appeared to be higher on average if the provider owned a single premises, rather than a chain.

And, unsurprisingly, the worst-hit homes were in parts of Scotland where virus rates had been highest.