VANITY projects prioritised by the Policy Council are getting in the way of essential social policy, a deputy minister has claimed.

It follows the release of the States Strategic Plan that proposes some social projects be put on the backburner while capital projects are prioritised.

The social policies include long-called-for services such as pre-school provision, a wheelchair service, domestic abuse and obesity strategies and the appointment of a disability officer.

Outraged deputy Health and Social Services minister Barry Brehaut (pictured) said States members should not stand for it. ‘To take something like colorectal scanning off to make way for buying an office in Brussels is nothing short of outrageous,’ he said.

The Brussels office would be intended to give Guernsey greater representation in the EU, something Guernsey International Business Association chairman Paul Meader believes would be money well spent.

‘It would be the best £200,000 we spend in 2010 because we need to engage with Europe. When we do so, we dispel the fears about us and they see we are well regulated.

‘Europe poses a very serious threat and will continue to do so and the quantum of revenue that we would lose by not engaging would be many multiples of that £200,000.’

Deputy Brehaut went on: ‘I am becoming increasingly reluctant to engage with some of the vanity projects that keep appearing.’

He said deputies should think long and hard about what they considered most important and bring a raft of amendments.