UK audit office backs DWP's innovation work but asks for better lesson sharing
The Jobcentre Plus office in Wallsend, North Tyneside, a two-storey red-brick building with a white pillared entrance, seen across an empty road under a cloudy sky.Photo: Nick-D / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
The UK's National Audit Office (NAO) says the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) "is experimenting in valuable ways across the organisation", including using AI to keep child maintenance payments flowing. Reviewing six case examples, the NAO found DWP has many of the necessary building blocks in place, but should apply good practice more consistently and share learning more effectively. It wants lessons shared even from innovations not taken forward, Global Government Forum reports. DWP estimates that actions prompted by one child maintenance model have prevented an additional 715 cases a month from moving into arrears and saved staff time equivalent to 49 full-time employees, the NAO report says.
The General Services Administration (GSA) has signed a OneGov agreement with US AI. Nextgov reports that US AI is a North Bethesda, Maryland, company and that it is GSA's first direct-to-government OneGov deal with an 8(a) certified small business. GSA's listing offers federal agencies up to 30 per cent off eligible software licences, plus two-week proof-of-value pilots for $1, on a FedRAMP High-authorised platform. GSA describes the offer as a limited-time offering that expires on 30 September 2028. The entry shows no signing date. GSA lists these terms under the US AI entry.
Governor Abigail Spanberger signed Executive Directive 6 on 23 October. It tells the Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security to set up a Cyber Consortium, which must adopt a statewide cyberattack prevention and response plan and an infrastructure-hardening plan that address AI-related risks. AI companies are to be asked to share with the Cyber Consortium the confidential briefings and reports they give other government bodies, including New York's Department of Financial Services under the RAISE Act and the European AI Office. The secretary is to aim for briefings on AI risks at least quarterly, and a tabletop exercise at least yearly. Other states will be invited to join.
Japan's Digital Agency said on 22 October that data may have leaked after a third party accessed the cloud environment of Studio, whose service ran part of its website. The agency lists five categories of potentially affected contact-form submissions, each a maximum, together at most 13,323, including up to 3,661 enquiries about its vaccination certificate app, plus 35 staff or contractor accounts. The agency says the scope is being examined and no misuse has been confirmed. Aomori Prefecture said on 21 October that data on 206 event applicants, collected by its contractor on Studio, may have leaked.
Oman has launched the second phase of its National Digital Economy Programme, for 2026–2030, a release on the Foreign Ministry's website says. It focuses on digitalising strategic sectors, expanding e-commerce and electronic payments, and accelerating artificial intelligence adoption. The release gives its targets as a contribution of 1.5 billion Omani rials to gross domestic product (GDP), 300 million rials in technology investment and 3,000 new direct jobs a year. The programme's Strategic Intelligence Platform, built with the World Economic Forum, was also launched. An official survey cited in the release puts the digital economy at 9 per cent of GDP.
