The findings of a confidential survey on emigration using a locally based market research firm are to guide government policy on retaining “as many Bermudians as we possibly can”, MPs heard in the House of Assembly.

Jason Hayward, the economy and labour minister, emphasised that the ministry would not hold any personal information on those responding to the questionnaire.

The study is understood to involve Global Research, consisting of 49 questions on why Bermudians emigrated and the changes needed to encourage them to return.

Mr Hayward was responding to parliamentary questions on Friday from Jarion Richardson, the Leader of the Opposition.

The minister said people who had emigrated would be polled on the “push and pull factors” for leaving, as well as 400 different households on the island to explore the reasons residents might be contemplating about moving overseas.

The survey would come with a third tier of 100 in-depth interviews with people who had emigrated.

Mr Hayward cited the outcome reported in January of a Narrative Research survey that found 72 per cent of residents were considering going abroad.

He said the ministry would need to “get down to the accuracy”.

“If you ask an individual whether or not they have though about leaving Bermuda, I think you may get a 100 per cent response that at some point in time, somebody thought about leaving,” he added.

Mr Hayward told the House the ministry wanted to get down to the hard fact around the “appetite” for leaving, with decisions ranging from education options to the island’s smallness.

He added that he aimed to table the survey’s findings in the House and would inform the public as well — along with “any policy directions the government will be moving on based on those results”.