In a GOV.UK announcement, the Government Internal Audit Agency said Andy Brittain has joined as interim chief executive. He arrives from the Department of Health and Social Care, where he most recently served as Director General for Finance and Group Operations. The agency said Brittain will lead GIAA while officials run a permanent recruitment process, which is expected to conclude by the summer. The move is presented as a continuity appointment rather than a change in mandate.
The interim appointment follows Harriet Aldridge's move to the Cabinet Office, where she is taking up the post of chief operating officer. Aldridge had led GIAA since December 2023. In the government statement, GIAA board chair Isobel Everett described the organisation as strong and stable and said Aldridge's tenure had helped it grow and mature. That matters because leadership changes in assurance bodies are judged less by public profile than by whether audit coverage, professional standards and client support continue without disruption.
For readers outside Whitehall, GIAA's title can sound technical, but its role is practical. The agency, established in 2015 and sponsored by HM Treasury, is the main internal audit provider for central government. Its clients include all ministerial departments as well as many agencies, non-ministerial departments and public bodies. It also leads the government internal audit profession and runs a counter-fraud and investigation service. In plain English, that means GIAA helps departments test whether controls are working, whether risks are being managed properly and whether public money is being used efficiently and for the purposes intended.
Brittain's background explains why the appointment is notable within government. According to the GOV.UK announcement, he has spent much of his career in senior finance posts across the public sector and has already worked with GIAA from the client side. That matters because internal audit works best when it is understood both as an assurance function and as a service used by departments, arm's-length bodies and accounting officers. A chief executive with direct experience of finance, operations and audit scrutiny is likely to be well placed to oversee that relationship during an interim period.
The announcement does not signal a new policy direction for GIAA. There is no indication of a change to its remit, sponsorship arrangements or core services. Instead, the message is one of orderly succession while a permanent competition is completed. For departments and public bodies that rely on GIAA, the immediate issue is continuity. Internal audit plans still need to be delivered, counter-fraud work still needs to support stewardship of public funds, and senior leaders still need timely assurance on controls, risk and value for money.
This is why an apparently narrow personnel story still has wider administrative interest. GIAA sits in a part of government that rarely attracts headlines, but it supports the machinery that helps identify weaknesses before they become larger failures. At a time when public spending remains under pressure and scrutiny of fraud, governance and delivery is high, leadership at the government's main internal audit agency matters. Brittain's appointment is therefore best read as a holding arrangement with practical importance: the assurance system continues to operate while Whitehall selects a permanent head.