IT hiring bosses back Burnham's AI focus despite DSIT loss

Britain's new PM appears to be banking on a 42%-and-rising surge in AI job vacancies — and on balance, that's enough to win over IT recruiters. But Burnham’s '10-year plan' will need to offer real stability, and answer hard questions on FOMO, FOBO and coherence.

The UK tech industry’s staffing captains are more optimistic than its commentators about new prime minister Andy Burnham’s IT policy ‘mismatch’ — appointing an AI minister while axing the government’s technology department.

In fact, speaking to Free-Work, three technology jobs providers sounded more supportive than sceptical about Burnham asking Kanishka Narayan MP to attend Cabinet as AI minister, just as the new PM closed ‘DSIT.’ 

Key takeaways 

• Andy Burnham has appointed Kanishka Narayan MP as the UK's first Cabinet-level AI minister, even though the new PM scrapped DSIT (the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
  

• IT jobs providers are broadly more upbeat than commentators about the move: VIQU IT, CV-Library and Morela all told Free-Workthat they see opportunity, ranging from Burnham's Greater Manchester digital track record to potential IT demand from any Palantir NHS contract shake-up
  

• CV-Library's own data shows AI-related vacancies grew by 42% between April and June 2026 versus the same period in 2025, but the scrapped Digital ID scheme won’t now lead to any IT roles 
  

• Reaction to DSIT's closure is mixed: The Register, Computer Weekly's Bryan Glick and Reed's Kelly Macey all question whether scrapping a single coordinating department leaves UK AI strategy incoherent — though freelance data consultant Gavin Freeguard isn't mourning it, and former TechCrunch editor Mike Butcher is hopeful it could open the door to more open-source opportunities
  

• Inclusive AI innovation leader Patricia Gestoso poses four unresolved AI questions for Burnham's government — including on 'FOMO' (Fear Of Missing Out) — while TechMarketView's Georgina O'Toole says corporate AI adoption is being held back by 'FOBO' (Fear Of Becoming Obsolete)
  

• Stability is what the tech sector wants most: Burnham's promised '10-year plan,' due later this year, will be closely watched for clear signals.

Will Burnham repeat his Manchester digital success nationally?

The first tech recruiter, VIQU IT, said that despite the closure of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), Burnham’s “Greater Manchester Digital Blueprint” built a £5billion ecosystem with 10,000 digital companies.

VIQU IT’s Matt Collingwood told Free-Work: “While it could be argued that, digitally, Manchester was well on its way before Burnham became mayor, now he’s PM, let’s hope he applies the same regional investment model across the UK, helping other major cities build thriving digital economies rather than concentrating growth in a handful of areas.” 

How is scrapping digital ID affecting IT recruitment?

The second tech jobs platform, CV-Library, observed that Burnham appears to be acting in line with the massive growth in AI jobs — even if other tech roles that Digital ID cards may have created are lost along with the scheme itself.

“Although [Burnham’s officials have quietly announced] the Digital Identity scheme is to be scrapped, it's too early to tell how this will impact IT contractors”, CV-Library global director Stylianos Taxidis said, in a statement to Free-Work.

“However, Burnham’s focus on AI should maintain momentum we’re seeing, giving specialist IT and tech workers in this space real leverage. 

“And our own data from April to June 2026 shows… that the number of AI-related vacancies has risen by 42% since the same period of 2025.”

Could axing Palantir create new IT skills demand?

The third tech recruiter, Morela, pointed to Burnham's decision, in his nine-year stint as Greater Manchester mayor, not to renew Palantir's contract — a sign of a possible IT shake-up in the public sector, where the US firm is on contract.

“Any alternative platform would still likely come from a US technology provider, and the NHS’s history of outsourcing many technology programmes to overseas systems integrators may limit opportunities for UK-based IT contractor roles.

“Nonetheless,” Morela’s managing director Adam Moore continued to Free-Work, “terminating or replacing [any Palantir-run] platform…could create demand for specialist IT skills.”

What does Reed make of Burnham's first tech policy moves?

Recruitment group Reed has also weighed in since Burnham's first speech as PM on July 20th.

Outside No 10, the Makerfield MP spoke of “new resolution,” and his government being a “circuit breaker” — claims that Reed suggests stack up based on the AI minister appointment alone. 

In fact, building on the OBR embedding AI adoption as a driver of total factor productivity recovery in its central forecast, the new Labour government has ‘elevated AI to the top table of government — [and] for the first time,’ says Reed’s Kelly Macey. 

What does the AI minister’s appointment mean?

Head of contract IT hiring at Reed, Macey said the move to appoint Mr Narayan (who will reportedly attend Cabinet, albeit without a seat) “highlights just how important AI has become at the highest level of government.”

Why does Reed sound lukewarm about the Burnham reshuffle?

However, the rest of the contract IT recruitment boss’s comments, made in a social media post, sound lukewarm about what others are calling “a mess” (Computer Weekly Editor-in-chief Bryan Glick).

“Can a country lead in AI without a single body coordinating its broader technology strategy?” asked a doubtful-sounding Kelly Macey, of Reed, who was referring to Burnham’s team reportedly working on prioritising the UK’s AI sovereignty despite axing its technology department — and its technology secretary, Liz Kendall.

What does The Register make of Burnham’s IT sector offering?

A long-running tech magazine, The Register, has already offered its own potential answer in an op-ed.

The magazine opined that DSIT’s closure (confirmed on July 21st in a House of Commons statement) “risks creating an incoherent approach to tech management, procurement, and policy.”

What has Burnham said he’ll champion?

The op-ed will likely disappoint Burnham, who in his speech outside No 10 promised to champion “using public procurement to back British industry.”

However, an associate of the Institute for Government, Gavin Freeguard, asked on July 21st: 

“Has DSIT been an unqualified success? No.”

What were the problems at DSIT? 

A freelance data consultant, Freeguard expanded on DSIT’s problems: “Low morale, perpetual restructuring, leadership questions…[and] slow progress in key policy areas, in hoc to US big tech/AI hype.”

Elsewhere on social media, Mike Butcher, the former editor-at-large of TechCrunch, cited reports that Burnham is preparing a major reset of UK AI policy, containing the “interesting idea” of “possible regional [local government] control of tech [budgets].”

What is the civil service terrified of?

“The civil service is terrified of tech policy being devolved,” posted Butcher, albeit before Burnham became PM. 

“Actually I think it could be pretty interesting. We might end up with some best-in-class experiments. What if the whole of the GLA (Greater London Authority) went open source [and] open-source AI, for instance?”

But these are far from the only AI-led questions being asked since Burnham’s No 10 speech — in which he promised to unveil a “10-year plan” for Britain “later this year.”

What are the four big AI questions facing Burnham's government?

Inclusive AI innovation leader Patricia Gestoso says there are four key questions to ask on AI and tech now Burnham is PM.

1.     We are relinquishing our data. We are adopting foreign AI models driven by ‘FOMO’ (Fear of Missing Out). Will we explore sovereignty, or will we continue to be keen on adopting other countries' technologies?

2.     The UK is the third country in the world with [the most] data centres. Are they serving us well?

3.     We have a wishy-washy approach to regulation; too afraid it will hinder innovation. Will we dare to become a country that regulates to foster innovation?

4.     How far will [DBIST — the department that inherited DSIT's science and innovation brief] go? Will it be looking at areas such as cybersecurity, quantum computing, and robotics?

A global director at BIOVIA, Gestoso told her LinkedIn followers that, aside from Narayan being appointed and DSIT being abolished, there was another ‘tension on her radar.’

“As somebody in the [AI] field for over two decades and living in Manchester for 15+ years, I see both the opportunity — there is such a wealth of knowledge and experience in this country that lacks recognition, especially beyond London — but also a pull to capitulate to the geopolitics of AI.”

[Editor's Note: The US and China together control about 90% of the world's computing power and 70-80% of global AI investment.]  

Which companies are best placed to benefit from AI?

The companies “best placed” to benefit from AI are those with the “integration capability,” regulated sector relationships, and an “enterprise delivery track record to move programs from experimentation to operational reality at scale,” according to TechMarketView’s Georgina O’Toole.

In a guest article for TechRadar, she added: “The biggest brake on AI adoption at enterprise scale is not technology; it is people.”

What is FOBO? 

O’Toole — TechMarketView’s chief analyst — continued: “‘Fear Of Becoming Obsolete,’ sometimes referred to as ‘FOBO’, is shaping how workforces engage with AI tools, how quickly organisations can genuinely embed new ways of working, and ultimately how fast clients can realise value from their investments.”

What has Kanishka Narayan MP said about AI?

Accepting his position as new AI minister, Mr Narayan sounded like he, too, could hear the ticking clock.

“Nations have a narrow window to decide whether they shape AI or get shaped by it. Britain is in that window right now. While that window is still open, I will act with pace, I will act with ambition, and I will focus relentlessly on securing British influence in shaping AI,” Mr Narayan pledged.

What must Burnham do next on tech sector hiring policy?

Speaking to Free-Work last night, CV-Library’s Stylianos Taxidis, its global director of Data & AI, said: “Now, it's about looking to stability. Andy Burnham is the UK's seventh prime minister in a decade. And so confidence must follow with some added certainty of what's to come. AI jobs aside, the rest of the tech staffing sector will be looking for clear signals before hiring managers further commit to longer-term projects.”