A new drive is being launched to encourage university graduates to stay in Oxfordshire and drive ahead business success, writes David Duffy.

The move follows a major survey of more than 2,000 companies carried out as part of a strategy to ensure that Oxfordshire's economic growth is best developed for the future.

The future of business in the county was being discussed today at a conference being held by the Economic Partnership at the Williams F1 Conference Centre at Grove, near Wantage, including a progress report on the drive to keep graduates in the county.

Bill McCardle, general manager of the Thames Valley Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said recruitment was becoming a real problem for companies.

He said: "The Government must take action now on affordable housing. If not the recruitment crisis will become even more worse and hold back business growth and investment."

The move on graduates is part of a plan, called the Regional Innovation and Technology Transfer Strategy, which was partly funded by the European Union and drawn up by a number of groups including Business Link Heart of England, the Heart of England TEC, NatWest Bank, Oxford City and Oxfordshire County Councils and Oxford Brookes University.

It focuses on the specific needs of individual businesses and looks at ways to improve support for firms through new ideas. One idea is to develop a "map" outlining hi-tech services available to help businesses.

Another is to establish a skills register detailing information on job opportunities for graduates in Oxfordshire with the aim of encouraging graduates from Oxford Brookes and the University of Oxford to stay in the county.