Academy chief executive, who oversaw primary school with the highest number of permanent exclusions on record in England, put forward by government to be the next Children’s Commissioner

Contacts have responded with disbelief after leading multi-academy trust chief executive Rachel de Souza was announced as the government’s preferred choice to be the new children’s commissioner for England.

De Souza is a very controversial pick given the record of the trust she leads on pupils leaving its schools, with her multiple links to influential figures in and around the Department for Education and the Conservative Party likely to intensify scrutiny as to the detail of her qualifications for the high-profile role.

De Souza has been chief executive of the Norwich-based Inspiration Trust since its foundation under Lord Agnew, the former academies minister who is a Conservative peer and donor, in 2012.

Attention is likely to focus on the trust’s recent record on children leaving its schools, especially given that current and previous holders of the children’s commissioner post have sought to shine a light on this issue.

As Schools Week, which broke the story, reported, the current commissioner Anne Longfield has “called for a compulsory register for ‘off the grid’ children, stronger measures to tackle off-rolling and that schools should be held to account for excluded pupils. She also pledged to publish home education figures for every school.