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The principles of TQM are becoming increasingly important in the public sector due to demands for increased levels of stakeholder satisfaction and government cost reduction and performance programmes. The aim of this paper is to investigate how the principles of total quality management (TQM) are being sustained in the UK public sector by contributing to improved performance levels. Six quality frameworks, which incorporate to various degrees the principles of TQM and which are applied in public sector organisations, were chosen for the study. The research methodology involved focus groups, a survey questionnaire and semi‐structured interviews. The questionnaire response rate was 62 per cent, involving 163 public sector organisational responses. The results indicate that quality frameworks play a key role in improving organisational performance over time. Furthermore, the business excellence model (BEM) and Investors in People (IiP) model were seen as providing a suitable range of improvement mechanisms and performance measures which were relevant to the public sector.