HIGH-tech businesses have welcomed proposals to help stem the flow of Malvern's most talented young people out of the area.

Malvern Hills District Council could open talks with the town's JobCentre for it to advertise well qualified young people to businesses.

The council says it is concerned about a 'brain drain' of young people and the implications for local firms seeking employees for highly skilled posts. It highlights high property prices and low unemployment as key factors in young people moving elsewhere for a career.

The council is planning a series of open meetings with graduates to discuss the recruitment situation.

The move has been welcomed by firms in the high-tech sector.

Nigel Shaw, manager of Malvern Hills Science Park, where 16 technology businesses operate, said: "I think generally attracting or finding local staff at all levels of academic prowess can be a problem," he said.

"If this is an opportunity to know the people who are in the local area and not lose their skills to an employer in another area then it would be an advantage.

"At the moment there does not seem to be a link between local companies and local graduates."

Mr Shaw said it would be useful if the list was not just in the JobCentre but was available on a website for companies to look at.

Chris Milne, Enigma Business Park partnership co-ordinator, said: "There needs to be some mechanism for businesses to know about graduates who want to work in Malvern."

Paul Hayden, marketing and commercial manager at Automated Packaging Systems, said the idea of advertising a person rather than a position could be useful to firms like his.

"We recruit on attributes as opposed to skills. If a person has the right sort of attributes we can teach them," he said.