Supporting Scrutiny

I read a paper on Scrutiny in Local Government by Steve Leach recently. One of the key issues in Scrutiny is that there is not enough knowledge to back up any investigation. Where Scrutiny Committees have dedicated staff, they are too few and/or inexperienced to offer necessary expertise. The Committees tend to rely on officers in each directorate i.e. the people whose position they may be criticising. He suggests a fund dedicated to buying in Scrutiny advice, or even a reciprocal arrangement between two authorities (as Blackburn and Salford apparently have). If a number of Boroughs had a specialised Scrutiny fund, why not use it to buy support from units like the LGiU, LGA or London Councils?