He was convener of the Standards Commission for Scotland 2003–2005 and chaired an independent review into the handling of complaints about public services.
[8] In June 2006, the Scottish Executive announced an independent review, chaired by Crerar, that was to look at the systems of external scrutiny for Scotland's public services.
[9] A report was produced in 2007 that contained 42 recommendations that related to how improvements could be made to the regulation and inspection of the public sector and the complaints handling process.
[10] He is generally credited as the architect of the Home Report System in Scotland[11] as one of three Chairmen of the Housing Improvement Task Force [12] He was a board member of Highlands and Islands Enterprise since 2008.
[13] Crerar was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2019 Birthday Honours for services to economic and community development in Scotland.