. @CommonsEd is holding a pre-appointment hearing with Dame Rachel de Souza, the government's preferred candidate for children's commissioner. #edselctte

. @halfon4harlowMP asks what she would have done differently. Dame Rachel says as a trust leader her pupils were learning all day and they ensured they had access to the internet, and as soon as they could get back into school they did.

Had she been in government, Dame Rachel says she would have done everything possible to keep schools open #edselctte

Dame Rachel says Ofsted should have continued inspecting including remote learning during Covid. She says it's more harmful for schools to close for pupils and she would have encouraged schools to remain open right from the start #edselctte

Dame Rachel says she would have pushed hard to get tech into schools as her trust had many pupils without access to devices and internet. #edselctte

Dame Rachel says when turning around failing schools you have to get leadership right, behaviour systems and do this at pace #edselctte

But Dame Rachel says exclusions were never part of a strategy at Inspiration Trust - 'absolutely not'. @halfon4harlowMP asks about evidence of off-rolling at East Point Academy #edselctte

Dame Rachel says Inspiration Trust found evidence of off-rolling - @halfon4harlowMP says this was uncovered by @Ofstednews #edselctte

And @halfon4harlowMP asks about high drop in SEND students across the trust compared with national statistics, and especially at its Great Yarmouth school #edselctte

Why did Great Yarmouth school exclude more pupils than anywhere else asks @halfon4harlowMP. Dame Rachel says in 'cold spot' areas you need to get great leaders and there was high turnover of leadership in the school #edselctte

. @halfon4harlowMP says there is a pattern of off-rolling at the trust's schools. Dame Rachel says she challenges this and there is no way off-rolling would happen in her schools now. #edselctte

. @tes reported on concerns about East Point at the time: https://www.tes.com/news/rolling-report-inspiration-trust-raises-concerns/

. @halfon4harlowMP asks how Dame Rachel will reconcile the Children's Commissioner role to protect human rights of children with levels of exclusion and off-rolling in the trust #edselctte

. @halfon4harlowMP asks whether she read the @CommonsEd exclusion report. Dame Rachel says she had and that she found the provision for some children needed to be different across the trust #edselctte

Dame Rachel says she wants to champion alternative provision as children's commissioner, with a 'revolving door'. @halfon4harlowMP says she has had great success but worries it was 'survival of the fittest' #edselctte

Dame Rachel does not say whether she would have made schools opening in first lockdown compulsory but says she stretched the rules to get as many pupils in as possible and that the children 'came running back' #edselctte

. @KimJohnsonMP asks about academisation and chains employing unqualified teachers. Dame Rachel says she is committed to working with all schools as CC. She has been a champion of academies, she says #edselctte

Dame Rachel says at her trust they are committed to qualified teachers in front of every class. She says they had a problem in Gt Yarmouth of getting qualified teachers there but now that school is fully staffed by QTs #edselctte

Dame Rachel is facing a lot of tough questioning on students who she would have excluded who she will now need to champion as children's commissioner #edselctte

Dame Rachel says she doesn't recognise the 'picture' presented by @CommonsEd and that in some areas where schools the trust took on were in a 'dreadful state' pupils were not getting a good quality of education #edselctte

Dame Rachel says the trust has now done a huge amount of work on inclusion and the fact she had to put this right means she can share that practice across the sector as children's commissioner #edselctte

. @IanMearnsMP asks how many children who were off-rolled were re-enrolled and how many were readmitted after incorrect exclusion. Dame Rachel says at East Point every single one, at Gt Yarmouth they did their best to reach out to all pupils but she doesn't have the figure

. @IanMearnsMP asks @Rachel_deSouza how she will challenge government across a range of departments in the interests of children. She says she has had a good briefing from Anne Longfield but wants to set up a children's cabinet to challenge government #edselctte

On the children's cabinet, @Rachel_deSouza says young people have been fantastic during the pandemic and she wants to put children's voices everywhere, at the centre of every policy decision #edselctte

. @Rachel_deSouza says she would need to look into the issue of banning corporal punishment 'properly' but says key thing is the safeguarding of children #edselctte

On unaccompanied refugee children, @Rachel_deSouza says it is a passion of hers to support them. Her trust is supporting a Syrian sixth former at risk of deportation and her own mother was a refugee in the care system #edselctte

. @Rachel_deSouza tells #edselctte that the remit of children’s commissioner is ‘so wide’ and that ‘making sure that were on what is happening is key and the breadth of the role is excellent’