Seventeen people have died from rubber bullet injuries

The bullet, known as the Attenuating Energy Projectile (AEP), has an air pocket inside which disperses the force of the bullet across a wider area.

The new bullets will be used from 21 June this year and will also be used by the Army in Northern Ireland.

Rubber bullets - or "baton rounds" - have fatally wounded 17 people, all in Northern Ireland.

The deaths were before 1989 when the current generation of rubber bullets, called L21A1, was brought in.

Those bullets were designed to be accurate to minimise the risk of an accidental head shot - the most common cause of death or injury from a rubber bullet.

The new round is designed to be equally accurate, but its design mean that even if someone is shot in the head the risk to them is minimised.

"Although there will be a reduced risk of serious injury or death when the AEP is used, that risk has not been completely eliminated," said Home Office minister Caroline Flint.

She added that the new bullets were only for use against "individual aggressors", not as "crowd control".