The Department of Health issued an apology yesterday for statistical howlers which made it seem 900,000 obese people were on incapacity benefit, claiming a total of £71m a week.

Journalists eagerly reported the figures as further proof that England was indeed the land of the fat, with citizens unable to live healthily. Unfortunately the figures were a tad exaggerated, not by 10 times, not by 100 times, but by 1,000 times. For once it was not the media's fault.

The department put the matter straight in its own correction and clarification yesterday. It said: "As a result of a departmental administrative error, a response given to a parliamentary question tabled by Lord Howe and answered by Lord Warner [a health minister] on 9 February stated that 900,000 people claiming contributory incapacity benefit were diagnosed as obese.

"This figure should have read 900 people and relates only to people who receive IB as a result of obesity.

"The average amount paid to people on IB as a result of obesity is £78.85 per week. Therefore, the average total weekly amount paid in IB to these people in England will be £70,795, rather than £70,965,000.

"The department apologises for this error and any difficulties this may have caused."

A spokeswoman said the "administrative error" was "a miscalculation by a policy official" and that it was "better to set the record straight rather than have it repeated every time someone writes a feature".