The establishment of the National Employment and Entitlement Service (NEES) was approved by the Government in July 2011 and subsequently the NEES project plan was published by me in August 2011. As outlined in the published plan, the development and implementation of the NEES is a four year project spanning 2011-2014. Detailed implementation and delivery targets and key milestones are set out covering each area of the implementation process.
In the establishment and development of the NEES, the Department has already engaged on a bilateral basis with a number of stakeholders and has also held a number of briefings and consultations with customer representative groups on the implementation of the new integrated service. In addition an external Advisory Group is being established to advise on the implementation of the new service and I expect to announce the membership of this group shortly.