Theresa May will not have a dedicated adviser on education policy, TES understands, following Rachel Wolf ‘s decision is to step down from her role at Number 10.

Ms Wolf, who advised David Cameron on education matters, was one of just two of Mr Cameron’s team to stay on after Ms May moved into Downing Street last month.

But sources have told TES that Ms Wolf has announced that she is moving on from her role as education adviser in Number 10’s policy unit, despite initially being kept on following the change in leadership.

It is understood she will not be directly replaced as Ms May looks to create policy advisers with much wider briefs, such as “economics and industrial policy” and even “public services”.

The change could mean education will be handled more closely by Ms May’s joint chief of staff Nick Timothy, who moved to Number 10 from the free-schools charity, the New Schools Network (NSN).

Mr Timothy’s appointment has led to strong rumours that the ban on new grammar schools could be lifted.

Ms Wolf was founding director of NSN, before moving to New York, where she led curriculum development for Rupert Murdoch’s education technology company, Amplify.

The Cambridge graduate worked alongside Joel Klein, the former chancellor of New York’s public schools, who had been tipped as a possible candidate for the job of Ofsted’s next chief inspector.

She moved to Downing Street last year after Mr Murdoch cut his losses on the computer tablet business, which lost $427 million in the three fiscal years up to 2015.